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THE WHITE CAVE 









































































THE WHITE CAYE 



WILLIAM O. STODDARD 

AUTHOR OF 1 i CROWDED OUT O’ CROFIELD,” ETC. 



NEW YORK 
THE CENTURY CO. 
1893 





<f)A 


Copyright, 1892, 1893, by 
The Century Co. 






TMl DC VINNE PRESS. 


CONTENTS 


I 

In a Strange Country 

PAGE 

1 

II 

The Perils of the Bush 

18 

III 

Boomerangs 

29 

IV 

A Fight in the Forest 

48 

V 

A Caye in a Tree-top 

59 

VI 

The Escape of the Coffee-pot 

75 

VII 

The Grand Corroboree 

89 

VIII 

Lost! 

102 

IX 

The Little Volcano 

115 

X 

A Spear and a Buckshot 

127 

XI 

A Great Wrestling-match 

137 

XII 

The Other Door of the Caye 

150 

XIII 

Near the Cave 

161 

XIV 

The Wings of the Coffee-pot 

173 

XV 

The Great Dingo Pack 

186 

XVI 

Wild Company in the Cave 

196 

XVII 

The Great Cave-oven 

207 

XVIII Tom Gordon’s Treasure 

219 

XIX 

The Fate of the Land Pirates 

230 

XX 

Conclusion 

237 



IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


3 


There were projecting white shapes here and there, ris¬ 
ing right up from the floor. They were ronnded and 
grooved and fluted, in strangely varied forms, and they 
seemed to stand up and point at other white shapes that 
reached down from the roof and pointed at them, and 
seemed to he trying to touch them. All in pure white they 
were, and the fire-glow danced and glittered among them 
until they looked as if they were dotted with polished 
jewels. It was not so, however; for, after all, they were 
nothing hut stalactites and stalagmites such as dripping 
water manufactures out of limestone in any place where 
it can work undisturbed for thousands of years. 

No donht the man had seen it all before, and was used to 
it; for he did not express any surprise or delight. He 
piled more fuel on the fire, and then he lighted one end of 
a long stick of resinous wood and picked up a basket. The 
air was warm enough already, so that he must have needed 
fire for some other reason. 

Glitter, flash, sparkle! More and more splendid grew 
that great, brilliant hall of whiteness, until the man 
returned from the other side, opposite the fireplace, with 
his basket full. It was full of coal,— full of fine, white, 
easy-kindling coal, such as belonged to that place and 
country. White coal burns just as well as black coal, but 
it is only to be found in some places. Putting it upon the 
fire diminished the glare, of course, until it could kindle up, 
and the man sat down upon the rock and waited. He 
looked at the fire and fanned the flame with a broad palm- 


4 


THE WHITE CAVE 


leaf, while the smoke of it went np through the crevice in 
the rock. There was a draft there which grew stronger and 
drew well, so that soon he did not need to fan any more. 
Then he turned and stared out into the darkness, on the 
side where there was no wall and where the firelight was 
soon lost in gloom. 

There were no gray hairs upon the man’s head, nor in 
his long beard and mustache. He could not have been of 
more than middle age, but his face was deep lined, as if he 
had done a great deal of hard thinking. He was in robust 
health, but the lines upon his face seemed also to say that 
he had suffered much, and it was a very troubled face. 
He stared and stared into the darkness, and then he mut¬ 
tered in a deep tone of voice: 

“ Vagabond! Hunted wolf! Wild beast!. That’s what 
I am! What on earth was this place made for ? What was 
it put here for ? Why was I such a fool as to come here 1 ” 

He turned and put on more coal, while the draft up the 
crevice in the rock grew stronger and carried off the smoke 
more perfectly. It was a remarkable natural chimney, but 
there was no telling where it went to, or where or how all 
that smoke was going to get out into tKeworld. 

“ I was n’t a bad young fellow,” he said, as he poked the 
fire. “I was a fool, that’s all. Well, well, I ’ll eat some¬ 
thing. I’ve got to eat, I suppose. Then I ’ll go to work. 
But what’s the use offn*}MW)rking ? What good will it ever 
do me, or anybody else? Well, there’s no use grumbling 
now. It has got to be done whether I can tell why or not.” 

\ 


IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


5 


He arose and went in the direction in which the roof 
slanted downward and the floor slanted upward. The 
walls narrowed also, and before he had walked many paces 
he could almost have reached up and touched the rock 
above his head. The floor was fairly smooth, although 
there were great seams in it, and here and there a stalactite 
had grown down until it had joined a stalagmite on the 
floor, making a beautiful white pillar. At the foot of one 
of these there was another basket, woven of strips of palm- 
leaf, and he picked it up, carried it to the fire, and took off 
its cover, remarking: 

“1 must say that now and then I like a piece of broiled pos¬ 
sum. Sometimes I don’t like it, but just now I could eat al¬ 
most anything. I ’ll have a possum broil. Humph! Cutlets! ” 

He pulled out some pieces of fresh meat, took up a long 
forked stick, put one of the pieces on the fork, and sat down 
before the fire to cook it. As the cooking went on, how¬ 
ever, the sad look on his face softened and vanished. 

In that strange, vast, glittering white kitchen where he 
was broiling his possum cutlets, nobody could have told 
whether it was to-day, or yesterday, or to-morrow, or morn¬ 
ing, or noon, or night. But in another place, many miles 
away, it was about the middle of the forenoon. 

A six-mule team, hitched to a very well made, white-tilted 
wagon, had been halted upon a gently rising ground, and 
all around them, and behind and ahead of them, there was 
a wild medley of dogs, horses, and men. On the slope, be¬ 
low, there was another group, all on horseback,—one large, 


6 


THE WHITE CAVE 


dignified-looking man; one equally dignified and very fine- 
looking woman; two boys of about fifteen, perhaps, and 
one girl younger than either of them. They were all gazing 
back, as if at something they were leaving. 

The scene they beheld was beautiful. As far as the eye 
could reach, there were undulating pasture-lands, unfenced, 
dotted with flocks of sheep and herds of cattle j but what 
they were really interested in was near at hand. A large, 
two-story house of stone, with wings and a long rear addi¬ 
tion, and with many outbuildings, stood upon a slight eleva¬ 
tion. In front was a shaven lawn, ornamented here and 
there with trees, some of which were evergreens and shade- 
trees of other sorts, but there were also fig-trees and a kind 
of orange. Every side of the house, and each wing even, 
had a wide veranda. The windows had inner blinds and 
outer white-canvas hoods. There was an observatory on 
the roof. All around and near the house was a kind of 
Eden. Trees, fruits, vines, flowers, vegetables seemed to 
have found a place where they could grow and prosper in 
marvelous luxuriance. Graveled walks, arbors, vistas of 
shade and sunshine, made it all very beautiful. The house 
itself was built in a costly way, and as if wealth and good 
taste had done all that they could for it, without and within. 
For all that, however, it was nothing but a farm-house. All 
the grassy rolls and levels, for miles and miles around, were 
nothing but a great, fifty-thousand-acre sheep-farm. 

“ Hugh/’ exclaimed one of the boys, holding in his some¬ 
what restive horse, “ ‘ the Grampians ■ is just beautiful! ” 


IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


7 


“It ’s never prettier than it is about this time/’ said 
Hugh. “This fine, hot December weather makes every¬ 
thing come right out. I don’t care, though! I say, ho for 
the bush! ” 

He was a blue-eyed, strongly made young fellow, and his 
fresh, bright face was all aglow with excitement. His 
companion was of about the same height, but somewhat 
slenderer. He was dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a 
look of wiry toughness, and his face had a keen, inquir¬ 
ing, intelligent expression. 

The horse which carried the girl at that moment pushed 
forward between them. 

“ Oh, Hugh! ” she exclaimed, “ then for England ! I 
love ‘the Grampians/ and I really want to see the bush, 
but then—England!” 

“All, right, Helen,” responded the very dignified man, 
in a deep, full voice; you shall see the bush and the 
mountains, and then we are off for England! That ’s 
settled! ” 

“ Aunt Maude ! ” said Helen, with even increasing eager¬ 
ness, “how long are we to stay in the woods? How 
many days will it be, Uncle Fred?” 

“ Why, Helen Gordon, you- should not be so impa¬ 
tient—” 

“Perhaps .two or three days, Helen. You will enjoy 
it, and the boys—” 

His horse cut off his answer by a sudden plunge. Aunt 
Maude’s was also curveting spiritedly. It seemed that 


8 


THE WHITE CAVE 


even the quadrupeds felt the exhilaration of the air and 
scene. 

“Ah, but, Ned,” said Hugh, “then you 'll be off for the 
United States, old fellow!” 

“Hurrah for that, too,” replied Ned. “Father sent in 
his resignation months ago. He says he has played con¬ 
sul at Port Adelaide long enough. He wants to get back 
to where they don’t have Fourth of July weather at 
Christmas. And so do I—but I must say this is great! ” 

One of the men near the wagon was just then remark¬ 
ing to his mate: 

“ B’ys, it ’s the grand picnic we ’re goin’ on. To think 
o’ them tryin’ to have a good time in the bush ! ” 

“ Never you worrit your soul about Sir Frederick Parry,” 
was the half-crusty response of another of the men, “ nor 
Leddy Maude, ayther. They know what they ’re about.” 

Perhaps they did, and her ladyship had said to her hus¬ 
band that very morning: 

“Indeed, Sir Frederick, if for nothing more, I am glad 
we are to make this excursion. I should hardly like to 
confess, in England, that I had lived here so long and had 
never so much as looked into the wilderness. And espe¬ 
cially when it comes almost at our very doors.” 

“You will see it now, Maude,” he replied heartily. “I 
am glad everything is so entirely safe. No more black 
savages in the country; no dangerous wild animals left; 
no more bushrangers; fine weather—we shall have a 
perfect picnic.” 


FORWARD ! INTO THE BUSH ! 



















IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


11 


This, therefore, was the treat anticipated by this excited, 
h a PPY; jubilant party, who were looking back at “the 
Grampians ” farm and farm-honse. 

There came the sharp crack of a whip, and the mnles 
leaned forward in their harness, while all the party on the 
slope wheeled their horses and dashed gaily past the wagon. 
Ahead of them all, langhing and shouting merrily to each 
other, rode Helen Gordon and the two boys. Her blue eyes 
were dancing with animation ; her golden ham was flutter¬ 
ing loosely in the warm north wind blowing over the plain; 
her healthy red cheeks were flushed. And Helen was a 
very pretty young English girl. 

“Hugh,” said Ned, “look at her! One of these days 
she will be as splendid-looking as your mother is. She 
looks like her already.” 

“Mother’s hair is redder than Helen’s is,” said Hugh. 
“ It’s as red as mine.” As for Sir Frederick’s, it was of a 
light brown, and closely cropped. He had gray eyes, a 
firm, strong month, and a clean-slaven face; and he was 
particularly well dressed—for a picnic in the bush. 

The mule-driver shouted vigorously at his team, and the 
entire party passed on over the brow of the hill. At that 
very moment, away off in that other place, where there 
was no hot December sunshine, nor any wind, nor any 
voice but his own, the red-bearded man, sitting in front of 
his fire, held up his cutlet of possum-meat, and said: 

“ I think it’s done — Hullo! What’s that ? ” 

There was no one there to answer. 


12 


THE WHITE CAVE 


He turned his face quickly toward the dark part of the 
cave, and listened. 

Out of that vast, mysterious gloom and whiteness there 
came, all the while, the river of dull, muffled, roaring 
sound; hut now it grew stronger for a moment. Some¬ 
thing like a crash mingled with it, and that was followed 
by a reverberation resembling the tones of a sonorous 
church-bell. 

“I must look out,” he remarked, “or some day one of 
those things will fall on me, and make an end of me. Not 
that I’d care much, but then— I must n’t think of that. I 
declare, when a fellow is right-down hungry, he can eat 
broiled possum-meat and enjoy it. I ’ll eat all I can, and 
then go to work. First of all, though, I must go and get 
some water.” 

He did not seem to have much kitchen furniture, but he 
owned an old rusty tin pail, and a coil of rope-cord that 
looked as if he might have braided it himself, out of some 
kind of bark fiber. He puUed the cord and pail out from 
among the white pillars where he kept his baskets. Then 
he lighted his torch-stick, and set off down the slope. 
Everything around him glittered and glimmered in the 
torch-light as he walked along, but his bare feet made no 
noise upon the smooth, rocky floor. The descent was not 
steep, but the upward slant of the roof was more rapid, and 
so was the spread of the side walls. So the great dark 
cavern he was in grew more and more ghostly and solemn 
as he advanced. He walked on and on until, when he 


IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


13 


looked up, lie could see only glistening white points among 
the shadows overhead, while the roaring sound grew nearer 
and louder, and had in it something of dashing and splash¬ 
ing. There were currents of air which made the torch 
flare and flicker, but they were not strong enough to blow 
it out. 

“A fellow ought to be safe, away in here. But he is n’t/’ 
remarked the man, once more looking up, and at that 
moment something white came flashing down. It looked 
like a streak of white for a half-second, and then there was 
a crash, a bang, and the vast cavern rang again with the 
strange, bell-like noise. One of the largest stalactites of 
the roof had broken off and fallen to the floor, and now 
its main stem and several smaller fragments rolled and 
tumbled thunderously down the slope. 

u What a crash! ” said the man, as if speaking to some¬ 
body. “ It has gone down the chasm. If I had been under 
it, I ? d have been crunched like a beetle. There would have 
been the end of me. Well, nobody else knows where I am, 
anyhow j and I don’t know, myself, what I am here for. It 
really would not make any difference whether I am killed 
or not.” 

About a minute after that, he stood still and held up his 
torch. He was standing upon the brink of an exceedingly 
grim kind of a precipice. It was as if the rock floor under 
him had been broken off there. All before him was thick 
darkness, when he lay flat down upon the rock and low¬ 
ered his pail by the rope j but, as he held out his torch, he 
2 


14 


THE WHITE CAVE 


could faintly see the foaming, tumbling surface of a torrent 
which poured swiftly along at the bottom of the chasm. 

“ Almost a hundred feet of rope / 7 he said to himself. 

“ It’s good water after you ’ve got it, but nobody can say 
whether or not it has anything to do with the other river 
above ground. I don’t care. No torch that I ever brought 
here would throw light enough to show me the other side 
of this gulf I mean to make a big blaze some day, and see 
what it will bring to light out there. Now I must go back 
and get at my work.” 

He was pulling up his rope and pail, hand over hand, 
while he was speaking.—And, during all this time, Sir * 
Frederick Parry’s six-mule team had been pushing merrily 
forward, with himself and Lady Maude riding a little 
ahead of it. The dogs of the party were only three in num¬ 
ber, and each of them was tugging vigorously against the 
cord by which the hand of a horseman held him back. 
Helen and Hugh and Ned were free, however, and they 
were cantering sharply some distance in advance of the 
rest. 

“We might see game ! ” Hugh had said. 

They were all three glancing around among the trees 
and bushes, as they went, and it was plain that each boy 
was trying to seem to ride easily while carrying a heavy 
double-barreled gun. 

“ Boys!” suddenly Helen all but screamed, “ look there! ” 

“ Quick, Ned! ” shouted Hugh, as he pulled hard upon his 
bridle. 


SHOOTING AT THE DINGOES 
















IN A STRANGE COUNTRY 


17 


Ned’s horse may have been the- quieter, for his gun was 
up first. 

“ Oh, how cruel! ” cried Helen. “ Shoot them! ” 

There was an old wagon-track, but not a road, and in the 
middle of the track, not many yards beyond her, lay the 
torn carcasses of several sheep, while over them snapped 
and snarled savagely nearly a dozen ferocious-looking 
animals. 

“ Wolves! ” said Ned, as he fired. 

“ Wild dogs! ” shuddered Helen. 

“Dingoes!” replied Hugh, as he fired both barrels of 
his gun. 

There were four gun-reports, and these were followed 
quickly by the bang, bang, seven times, of a small revolver 
in the hand of Helen Gordon. 

“ Frederick! ” exclaimed Lady Parry. 

“ What is that ? Ride on ! Hurry ! ” 

“B’ys!” roared the driver of the mule team, “on with 
ye’s! Quick! ” 

Down came his long, cracking whip-lash over his unlucky 
mules; on dashed the mounted men; forward sprang the 
spirited horses which carried the baronet and his wife.— 
The first exciting adventure of that excursion party had 
come to them before they were two miles from “the 
Grampians” farm-house. 


CHAPTER II 


THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 

IR FREDERICK’S horse had gone for¬ 
ward with a great hound, at the sound 
of the firing, hut he and Lady Maude 
drew rein side hy side, a few seconds 
later, at the spot where Hugh and Ned 
were trying to quiet their excited ponies. 
Helen’s pony was behaving very well, hut her revolver 
was empty. 

u O Aunt Maude! ” she cried. “ I do hope I hit some of 
them! ” 

“ I hope you did! I’m glad some of them were hit,” re¬ 
plied Lady Maude, with energy. 

Wolves, wild dogs, dingoes, whatever they were to he 
called, all had vanished except a pair lying still among the 
torn and bleeding bodies of the baronet’s lost sheep. Of 
course the hoys had not aimed very well, and perhaps Helen 
had not really hit anything; hut such a storm of leaden 
pellets had been sent that some of them had found their 
marks. 



THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 


19 


“ Dingoes! ” growled Sir Frederick. “ The worst enemies 
of sheep-farming!” 

“ Hugh/’ said Ned, looking down at the pair they had 
killed, “ they ’re savage-looking fellows. Are they ever 
dangerous ? ” 

“ They would be, if cornered,” said Hugh, “ but they’d 
never come near a party like ours. They ’re natural 
cowards! ” 

They were ugly-looking brutes, and Helen said so, point¬ 
ing her empty revolver at them, while Aunt Maude pitied 
the poor, slaughtered sheep. Sir Frederick and his men did 
not say much, but they were evidently more than a little 
surprised and annoyed by the presence of so many dingoes 
so very near “ the Grampians.” 

The boys reloaded their guns before remounting the 
ponies, and Helen also filled all the seven chambers of 
her pretty silver-finished weapon. 

u I’ve had target practice enough,” she said, “ and I mean 
to hit something else, while we ’re in the bush.” 

Her rosy face was aglow with a hunting-fever, and with 
courageous readiness for whatever might come. It made 
her uncle and aunt laugh to look at her, but Lady Maude 
remarked: 

“ I think I shall carry a revolver, too. There is one in 
the strong box that is n’t too large for me to carry.” 

Everybody else seemed to be taking an increased interest 
in the excursion, including the three men, who had been al¬ 
most pulled out of their saddles by the tugging of the dogs. 


20 


THE WHITE CAVE 


In the cavern, meanwhile, the red-bearded man, after 
bringing his pail of water, had fonnd a singular piece of 
work to do. He went in among the group of white pil¬ 
lars, and brought out a large red-clay crucible, rudely fash¬ 
ioned and very thoroughly tire-marked. He settled it 
down among the coals, and heaped them around it. He 
went again, and returned with a heavy leather bag, out 
of which he took something or other which he dropped, 
piece by piece, into the crucible. It was chiefly in small 
fragments that were weighty, considering their size. When 
that was done, he went again and brought out a palm-leaf 
basket that was very heavy indeed, for it was full of fine, 
dusty, yellow sand. He poured it into a broken hollow in 
the rocky floor near the fire, and made several dents in its 
surface by pressing down into it a small piece of wood. 
Each dent was as large as two fingers of a man’s hand, and 
he packed the dust hard around the stick, each time, so that 
the dents kept their shape after it was taken out. 

“ There,” he said, “ the molds are ready. There’s a good 
fire, but there won’t be any melting right away. It takes 
time for that. I think I will go out and look around.” 

He poked the fire, put on more coal, peered into the cru¬ 
cible, and then he made a loose coil of his rope. The pail 
was still full of water, and he remarked : 

“ That’s for Nig.” 

He picked up his rifle, and went toward the pillars at the 
upper end of the cavern. There were not many of them, 
and before he got through and beyond them the roof was 


THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 


21 


so low that his head almost touched it. Then it sloped 
lower and lower, and he had to stoop and then to creep. 
He crept along a sort of passage, such as is common among 
limestone rocks anywhere, and it grew narrower, until it 
was little more than wide enough for a man of his size to 
pass easily. At this point a fit of caution seemed to seize 
him, and he paused, listening. 

“ I can’t help it,” he said to himself j “ I always feel as if 
somebody were after me. I am hunted, too, sure enough j 
—and they have barely missed me, sometimes.” 

He crept on again, listening and feeling his way in the 
darkness of that underground crevice. Probably he knew 
every inch of it, and, at last, he put out a hand and pushed 
sharply against something which fell back and let in a 
great glare of sunshine. 

“ I am always glad,” he said, “ to see daylight, whenever 
I can. It is n’t of much use to me, that I know of. I seem 
to belong underground.” 

The expression of his face when he said that was sad, 
but it was also fierce and resentful. In a moment more he 
was out of the crevice, and was standing erect among some 
bushes, while on either side of him were what looked like 
huge tree-roots. The thing which he had pushed away to 
let him out was a big piece of bark, fitted in between two 
of those gnarled, bunchy roots. The bushes were thick, 
and there did not seem to be any path through them. He 
walked on cautiously for a few yards, to where they were 
thinner and more open, and then he looked up. 


22 


THE WHITE CAVE 


u I always like to take a look at my mountain ash,” he 
remarked. “ They say some of its kind are larger, but I 
don’t believe it.” 

He had reason for such a doubt, for it was certainly a 
large tree. It was between sixty and seventy feet around, 
at the height of a man from its base. There was not a 
branch upon its massive trunk for over a hundred feet 
from the ground, but there they began, and the spreading 
crown of the forest monarch was lifted proudly up at a 
height of more than four hundred feet. It was a grand 
sentinel to stand at any man’s door, even at the door of so 
strange a house as that in which this remarkable man had 
broiled his slices of possum. He was now standing in a 
hollow between the roots of the giant, and was peering 
cautiously in all directions. All was dense forest, and there 
was a deep forest silence. He seemed to be satisfied that he 
was alone there, for he stepped out with his rifle and the coil 
of rope over his shoulder, and his pail of water in his hand. 

“ Nig, first,” he said. “ I ’ll keep an eye out after game, 
but I must n’t waste any ammunition, with so few car¬ 
tridges left. Anyhow, I don’t believe I ’m in any special 
danger just now. There is n’t another living soul in all 
this part of the bush.” 

That might be, but in another part of the bush Sir 
Frederick Parry was just recovering from a hearty fit of 
laughter. 

“ Dingoes ? ” he said. “ She won’t see any more of them $ 
but it’s good fun to see how she and the boys are hunting.” 


THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 


23 


“I believe we are really going to enjoy it,” said bis wife, 
u and so will they.” 

u Of course they will,” he replied. u Helen ’s ready to 
shoot anything. Well, Maude, we can sail for England in 
January, just in our midsummer; and we shall get there in 
April, and have summer weather all the way and afterward. 
Quite the longest summer you ever had in your life. Then, 
if we are to come back here, and if we leave England 
before October, it will be two whole years of summer, with 
bits of spring and autumn.” 

“ I don’t care so much for that,” said Lady Maude, “ but 
I hope we shall not lose ourselves in this wilderness.” 

“ There’s not the least danger of that,” he replied confi¬ 
dently. “ I know exactly what to do, and so do the men.” 

Nevertheless, as they went along, the men were telling 
each other wild tales of what things had happened to ex¬ 
plorers of those endless forests and of the rugged mountain 
ranges. Even Helen and the boys, in spite of their keen 
lookout after game, were remembering and telling all they 
had ever heard of adventures in that only half-discovered 
country. Ned, indeed, had more to say about American 
Indians and California gold-mines, while Hugh seemed to 
be especially well informed concerning the degraded and 
merciless black cannibals of Australia, who were now 
nearly all gone. All three of these young folk, however, 
seemed to have heard and read a great deal about the old 
system of making that new land a state prison for English 
convicts. They told what dreadful fellows these were, and 


24 


THE WHITE CAVE 


how many of them escaped into the “ bush ” and became 
veritable white savages — hardly less terrible than black- 
fellows themselves. 

It was really comforting to be able to assure one another 
that there were no wild men of any kind in all that part of 
the country, while it was said that the forests had now 
more game in them than ever before. 

“ Get lost ? ” remarked Hugh, contemptuously, in answer 
to a question of Helen’s. “ No, indeed ! Why, we could n’t 
possibly get lost. Not such a party as ours, and going only 
a couple of days out from ‘ the Grampians.’ Oh, but won’t 
we have a good time ! ” 

The whole party responded with a cheery shout, and Sir 
Frederick gave orders to get as far into the bush as pos¬ 
sible before going into camp for the night. 

Whatever the red-bearded man in the cave had been 
doing, he had now returned, and was once more standing in 
front of the fire. Beside him, on the floor, lay a huge bird 
that looked something like an ostrich; but he remarked of it: 

“ Emu-meat is dry stuff. I’m glad I lassoed him, and 
did n’t have to waste a cartridge. This and the rest of 
the possum will be provisions enough to start with. I wish 
Nig were shod, though, for he’s got a hard trip to make. 
I’m going to the gulch just this once, and I ’ll bring back 
every ounce there is left. It’s a big risk to take, too, with 
those fellows on the watch for me.” 

All the while, as he talked, he was poking in the cru¬ 
cible with a long iron rod. 


THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 


25 


“Ready?” he exclaimed at last. “I ’ll finish this job, 
and then hurrah for the mountains! I ’ll be glad to live 
in the open air for a while.” 

He took up a long, stout pole, with a fork at one end. 
He shoved the fork in among the coals until it had a 
good hold of the crucible. Of course it caught fire, but 
he did not seem to mind that. He lifted the crucible, 
and swung it around to the spot on the floor where he 
had made his sand molds. He tipped the nozle slowly 
over one of the molds, and a red, brilliant, fiery stream 
of something liquid began to pour out. He filled one mold 
after another until the fluid ceased to run. 

u Five! ” he exclaimed. “ About three pounds apiece. 
Now, would n’t that band of rascals over in the gulch 
have got a good haul if they had bagged me the last time 
I went? Some of their bullets whizzed pretty close, too. 
They would give something to know where I left the 
rest of it, or when I ’in coming after it—the robbers! 
Land pirates! I got away that time, and Nig and I 
have only got to try it this once more. We can beat 
’em. I ’ll just let those slugs cool where they are. They 
may never be of any use, to me or anybody else, but I 
like them, somehow.” 

In a few minutes more he was out in the open air. 
He carried a pail of water, and he had his rifle and his 
rope; but over his shoulder were also slung a saddle, 
bridle, saddle-bags, a bundle, and a long-handled spade. 

The bark door between the tree-roots had been closed 


3 


26 


THE WHITE CAVE 


with care ; and only the sharpest eyes could have dis¬ 
covered any trace of his passage through the hushes. 
On he walked for about ten minutes, and then he came 
to an open grassy place. All around it trees and bushes 
grew thickly, luxuriantly, in a way to explain why it 
had been chosen both for a pasture lot and for a place 
to hide a horse in. 

There he was, nibbling busily at the grass, a large, 
strong-looking horse, very black, and in good working 
condition, for he was not by any means too fat. The ap¬ 
proach of his master’s feet was noiseless, so that he had no 
warning • but there came a shrill whistle from the edge of 
the bushes, and Nig knew it. He began to prance. 

“ Glad I ’ve come, are you ? ” said the man, as he drew 
nearer. “ Well, you need n’t be. I’ve brought you another 
job through the mountains, with a heavy pack to bring 
back this way.” 

Nig neighed again, as if he were quite willing, although 
it was getting somewhat late in the day. He was soon 
bridled and saddled and mounted. 

Nig and his master were just setting out upon their jour¬ 
ney, wherever it was to take them. They were fresh and 
bright j but that was more than could be said of six mules, 
who had been pulling a tilted wagon through forest ways, 
hour after hour, in all the heat of real December weather. 
They were not the only creatures who were feeling it, and 
one of the consequences was a succession of shrill cries, 
which began to sound through the silence of the forest. 


THE PERILS OF THE BUSH 


27 


“ Hugh! 77 exclaimed Ned, as he turned in his saddle and 
listened, “ what 7 s that! 77 

“I heard it / 7 said Hugh. “It means to come back. 
They 7 ve halted . 77 

“ Coo-ee-e! Coo-ee-e! Coo-ee-e ! 77 came the cry again, full 
and clear. 

“ Don’t you know ? 77 said Hugh. “ That 7 s the call of the 
herdsmen. It 7 s the way they keep track of each other in 
the bush. You can hear it ever so far, and the sheep and 
cattle and horses know it . 77 

“ Boys , 77 said Helen,“ we must go back. That was Uncle 
Fred’s voice . 77 

They obeyed the call; but neither they, nor the red- 
bearded cave-man, nor anybody in all that part of the 
bush, could hear another set of calls, of much the same^ 
sort, which were sounding at the same time. They were 
sounding in an even wilder place, moreover; for it was as 
solitary, while instead of trees and shrubbery there were 
rocks and ledges and dangerous-looking gullies. “Coo- 
ee-e” after “coo-ee-e” echoed among the quartz and gran¬ 
ite masses, calling and answering each other, and then a 
group of half a dozen men gathered upon a gravelly level. 
They were a rugged and ragged and really savage-look¬ 
ing company, and, as they came together, one of them 
called out: 

“No, boys, we have n’t found it yet; but we shall find it. 

It is hereabout, somewhere. Besides, he ’ll be coming after 
it, and we shall get it then if we can’t find it now.” 


28 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ His time’s about up, if be ’s coming,” replied another 
man. “ Maybe lie is n’t far away now. We ’d better wait 
and watch for him, the next few days.” 

“ That’s so,” said a hoarse and mocking voice, “ and we 
must n’t shoot too quick when we sight him.” 

“Shoot? No; of course not,” said the first speaker, with 
a laugh of wolfish cunning. “What we want is just to 
nab him. Then we can threaten him till he tells where 
he hid every ounce he took out of his gulch. First and last 
he took out a heap, and it’s hid away somewhere.” 

“ Threaten him?” said a big, hard-faced fellow. “ We ’ll 
tie him to a sapling and soon make him tell all he knows.” 

“ What ’ll we do then ? ” asked another. 

“ What ? Why, find out if he’s told the truth; and if he 
has, and as soon as we’ve bagged all his nuggets, all we’ve 
got to do is to leave him tied there, if we like. That ’ll be 
the end of the matter.” 

The whole half-dozen growled a fierce, cruel growl of 
a&sent to that idea. They were angry at having hunted 
and waited long without success, and they looked more and 
more wolfish as they talked. And all the while Nig was 
bringing his master nearer and nearer. 


CHAPTER III 


BOOMERANGS 

EVERAL long days after Sir Frederick 
Parry’s excursion party set out so merrily 
from “the Grampians,” the hot December 
sunlight shone down over the wilderness, 
and sent its searching rays into many 
wild-looking places. 

One of them was a mountain pass, between gigantic and 
almost perpendicular walls of rock, which were grandly high, 
and shattered, and irregular. Only here and there could the 
sunshine reach the boulder-strewn, natural road at the 
bottom of the pass. No wagon could have traveled that 
road, but a horse could do so, or a man; and in and out 
among the boulders, carefully picking his way, a man was 
leading a heavily laden horse. The animal was large, and 
strong, and bony, and so was the man. The horse was black, 
and looked as if his coat had never known a currycomb or 
a brush. At intervals the man cast quick, anxious glances 
behind him, up the pass. 

“ They ’re after me again,” he exclaimed. “ I knew they’d 
follow me, as soon as I met that fellow Jim. They have n’t 



30 


THE WHITE CAVE 


caught up yet, though $ and I ’ll heat them, this time, as I 
have beaten them before. But it won’t do to push too fast 
with such a cargo as this.” 

He was silent, for a moment, while he helped the horse 
through a bad place, throwing some fragments of rock out 
of the way with an ease that sug¬ 
gested a reason why no one man 
would be likely to stop him. Then 
he added: 

u I won’t have to visit that gulch 
again. I’ve emptied my old hid¬ 
ing-place this time, and I’m bound 
to land this cargo in the cave. 
What I ’ll do then I don’t know 5 but I won’t let that crew 
of robbers get it. And they sha’n’t get me, either.” 

In another forest place, there was a long but not very 
wide level of rich green grass, surrounded by remarkable 
trees, some of which were enormously tall $ and it seemed 
as if several of them had found themselves too crowded, and 
had moved out and selected new standing-places in the open 
prairie. These prairie trees were at considerable distances 
from each other, and one of them had queer company. 

It was a company of four, and they were four-footed 
animals, but they did not seem to know what to do with 
their feet. When they sat down, they still appeared to be 
standing up, and the largest of them, when sitting, held his 
head as high as that of a man. 




BOOMERANGS 


31 


They were evidently in their own pasture-ground, for 
they were feeding, but they kept up the most timid and 
ceaseless watch in all directions. A hunter would have 
said that they would prove as difficult to “ stalk ” as a herd 
of red deer. 

Along the easterly edge of the open pasture ran a line of 
dense bushes; and completely hidden behind one of these 
bushes two boys were lying upon the ground. 

“ Ned, look ! I ’m glad we did creep up. There are four 
kangaroos! ” 

“Just what we ’re after, Hugh,” whispered Ned,- “but 
they ’re away out of range.” 

“I don’t see how we can get any nearer,” said Hugh. 
“They ’re the timidest game! We ’ll lose them, I ’m 
afraid.” 

“ If we don’t get one of them we ’ll starve! ” exclaimed 
Ned. “ I wish I had a rifle instead of this double-barreled 
gun.” 

“ And buck-shot won’t reach them,” said Hugh. “ Maybe 
they ’ll feed out this way. Wait.” 

“It’s hard to wait,” said Ned. “Not a mouthful to eat 
since yesterday noon ! I’m fearfully thirsty, too.” 

“ I’m afraid they have n’t any fresh meat in the camp, 
either,” replied Hugh. “ I wish we knew where it is. 
Mother ’ll be dreadfully worried about us.” 

“ Keep still, ” said Ned. “ They ’re moving! ” 

Ned and Hugh now stared more and more eagerly out at 
the group of kangaroos. At a little distance behind the 


32 


THE WHITE CAVE 


lads, a pair of saddled horses were tethered to a sapling, 
and behind each saddle was strapped a rolled-up blanket. 
Each of the boys carried a double-barreled, breech-loading 
“ duck-gun.” It was evident that they had wandered from 
the camp to hunt, and had lost their way. 

“We must n’t starve! ” said Ned. 

“ If we were on the other side of that cabbage-tree,” 
replied Hugh, “ we’d be within easy range of them.” 

That was precisely the reason why the cabbage-palm had 
yet other company, that sunny summer morning in Decem¬ 
ber. Queer company were these, also — as queer as were the 
kangaroos themselves. Half a dozen dark, almost naked 
human forms seemed to be making use of the great tree to 
hide the crouching, creeping, snake-like gliding of their swift 
approach for a nearer look at their watchful game. They 
were gaunt and lean, but very muscular men. They were 
very black, with woolly hair, but they did not have African 
faces. Their bodies and limbs were marked with singular 
ridges of welts and scars, but they were not tattooed, and 
they did not carry any weapons of white men’s manufac¬ 
ture. On the other hand, each of them seemed burdened 
with a curious collection of spears and sticks, although 
none had a bow. 

“ Hugh,” said Ned, “ there are bushes over there beyond 
that tree. We could creep close up, if we could get around 
to that side of it.” 

“We could get a brace of them!” replied Hugh, excitedly. 
“ Let’s try.” 


BOOMERANGS 


33 


A branch of a bush was just then waving slowly, out at 
the side of the trunk of the palm. It was as if the wind 
moved it, and it did not attract any attention from the 
kangaroos. 

But there came, at that moment, a flash of quick and 
anxious intelligence into the dark, keen eyes of the Yankee 
boy. 

“ Lie low, Hugh ! ” he exclaimed. “ Look ! There is n’t 
any wind. Something else must be moving that bush. 
Wait a bit.” 

“ There it is again,” said Hugh ; “ away out.” 

But neither of them could see through the dense foliage 
of the handful of twigs which waved up and down against 
the cabbage-palm. Eyes on the opposite side could see 
better than theirs, however, and a large, rolling, eager pair 
of very black eyes were using that green branch as a mask. 

The black man watched the kangaroos intently for a 
moment, and he seemed to be taking a kind of measure¬ 
ment of their distance from the foot of the palm. Then 
he drew back, and a second black man took his turn at 
looking, with the bush-branches for a screen, and he also 
drew back. He put down the twigs, and the two seemed 
to be studying. Two men who could neither count nor 
measure, as civilized men count and measure, were in 
reality counting and measuring as accurately as if they 
had been a pair of surveyors with perfect instruments. 
They had dropped their spears and sticks before peeping 
out at the kangaroos, and now each of them stooped and 


34 


THE WHITE CAVE 


picked up a queer crooked club. All the other black men 
lay flat in the grass, while these two went on with their 
puzzling operations. Neither of them could see any part of 
a kangaroo through the trunk of a tree. Each stood and 
balanced himself, leaning forward, with his bit of curved 
wood held in his right hand by one end. Those crooked 
sticks were not much over two feet long, perhaps not 
more than two or three inches wide at the center, the widest 
part, and were made to taper at each end. They were 
curved on one face and flat on the other, and sharp at 
the edges. You would have said great pains had been 
taken to shape those sticks so that it would be impossible 
for anybody to throw them straight or make them hit any 
object they were thrown at. 

Each black man held his dark, heavy-looking, wooden 
weapon with the flat side down, until he had finished 
balancing and calculating, and then he suddenly drew 
back and hurled it from him, with a peculiar, jerking 
twist of his wrist. Almost at the same moment, each of 
them stooped and picked another and threw it, and then 
a third. As the third cast was made, each uttered a loud, 
screeching yell, the two harsh cries bursting forth at al¬ 
most the same second, followed by yells from all the rest 
of the party as they sprang from the grass, seized their 
spears and sticks and bounded forward. 

Ned and Hugh had noted every movement of the green 
mask by the palm, and the kangaroos also must have 
begun to suspect danger, for all of them had ceased feed- 


HE SUDDENLY DREW BACK: AND HURLED THE BOOMERANG. 










BOOMERANGS 


37 


ing, sat upright, and pricked their ears and turned their 
pretty heads inquiringly. The largest of them was in the 
very act of rising for a forward bound when something 
struck him upon the neck, just above the shoulder. 

There had been a faint whizzing and whirring in the air. 
It began behind the cabbage-palm, and went out sidewise 
and upward through the air, while something dimly visible 
flashed away in a wide, sweeping curve. Up, up, up, went 
the whizz and whirl, and then down, down, after a strange, 
mysterious fashion, closely accompanied by another just 
like it. Then there was a thud, thud,— and the great 
kangaroo did not make his leap. He rolled over and over 
in the grass, for one of those wonderful missiles had ac¬ 
tually broken his neck. And another kangaroo had fallen 
also. 

“ Hugh! Hugh! ” exclaimed Ned, in a tone of intense 
excitement. “ Boomerangs ! ” 

“ Boomerangs ! ” responded Hugh. “ Oh, Ned! They 
must have been thrown by blackfellows! Everybody 
thinks there are none of them around here! ” 

“We must n’t let ’em know we are here,” said Ned. 

“ What if they find the camp! ” gasped Hugh. 

“Look,” replied Ned. “Here come the other two kan¬ 
garoos ! ” 

“ Don’t shoot! ” said Hugh, for Ned was raising his gun. 
“ The bushmen will know we ’re here.” 

But for all that he also cocked both hammers of his gun. 

There was no time for cool counsel, but the boys might 

4 


38 


THE WHITE CAVE 


not have fired if it had not been for the reckless conduct 
of those escaping kangaroos. 

With long, flying, frightened leaps, the unhurt pair 
dashed frantically toward the nearest cover, the very 
bushes where Ned and Hugh were hiding. 

“ They are coming right for us! ” said Hugh. “ The 
blackfellows will find us, anyhow.” 

The kangaroos were thinking only of getting away from 
the yelling black dangers that sprang out from behind the 
cabbage-palm. Near as they now came to the boys, they 
were not easy marks for any one but a very good shot. 
Crash, crash, crash, they came dashing into the dense barrier 
of the bushes and underbrush. 

Bang, bang, went the ringing reports of two guns, for 
Hugh followed Ned’s excited example. 

u We ’ve bagged ’em both ! ” said Ned. 

“ Yes,” said Hugh, “we have them. But now those black 
cannibals know we are here.” 

“ They don’t know how many there are of us,” said Ned. 
“ Look at them.” 

The foremost black men had been almost upon their game 
when the gun-reports reached their ears $ and it looked as 
if all but one of them had been instantly killed, so suddenly 
did they drop into the grass where they stood, and lie still. 

“Let’s get away,” said Ned, “while our chance is good. 
Why! they have vanished like magic ! ” 

The undulating level of rich grass did not seen^to have 
one living creature upon its surface. 


WITH LONG, FRIGHTENED LEAPS, THE KANGAROOS DASHED FRANTICALLY TOWARD THE NEAREST COVER. 











BOOMERANGS 


41 


“They will lie there awhile” began Hugh, but Ned in¬ 
terrupted him suddenly, in a tone of intense anxiety: 

“ No, they won’t! See the tops of that grass quiver, out 
yonder? One of them’s playing snake. You and I must 
get out of this, and be quick about it! ” 

“ That’s so,” exclaimed Hugh; “ but as Bob McCracken’s 
been saying ever since we left ‘the Grampians,’ you ’re a 
born scout. I’d never have noticed that grass.” 

“Don’t you see?” said Ned. “He’s snaking toward these 
bushes. As soon as he gets under cover he ’ll come after 
us. Come along! We must move quickly! ” 

The boys were in a perfect tremble of excitement. Each 
slipped a fresh cartridge into his gun, and the horses were 
unhitched and led up to where the two kangaroos lay. 
They were smaller than the pair that had fallen under the 
boomerangs, for the black hunters had taken their choice. 
Still, it was a heavy lift for the boys to raise their unex¬ 
pected prizes and to fasten them on the horses. 

Hugh’s rosy face, as he did so, wore only a look of boyish 
exuberance, without a shadow of fear; but he exclaimed: 
“Now, Ned, they ’ll follow us. Anyhow, we’ve seen how 
the blackfellows throw their boomerangs!” 

Ned’s movements seemed to be a trifle quicker than 
Hugh’s, and he also appeared warier and cooler. 

“We can get away,” he said, “while that fellow in the 
grass is working around to find out about us. What 
would n’t I give to know where the camp is! ” 

“ It can’t be so very far,” said Hugh; and then the smile 


42 


THE WHITE CAVE 


left his face as he added, “ Our people don’t dream of there 
being any blackfellows in this neighborhood. It’s awful 
that we can’t go in and warn them.” 

“ They have the dogs,” said Ned, as he urged his horse 
forward. “ They can’t be surprised. We are in a fix, 
though.” 

“We have something to eat, now, anyway,” said Hugh. 
“We won’t starve if we are lost in the bush.” 

“With blackfellows ready to spear us,” said Ned, “as 
soon as we stop anywhere long enough to cook and eat! ” 

“We can fight any small squad of them,” said Hugh, 
combatively. 

“ I ’d rather fight blackfellows than so many American 
Indians,” replied Ned. “ I guess they can’t do much with 
boomerangs in the woods.” 

“ They can use them pretty well,” said Hugh, “ and they 
can skulk around and throw spears and clubs.” 

“We must push right along,” said Ned. “Keep in the 
open places. We ’ll beat them.” 

The quivering motion in the tops of the prairie-grass had 
indeed been made by the snake-like passage of a savage 
body. It was altogether remarkable, too, how rapidly that 
short, bony, emaciated blackfellow could crawl; but he 
could not keep pace with a man walking, much less a 
nimble-footed Australian, horse. He reached the line of 
bushes, at some distance from the spot where the boys had 
been lurking, and then he sprang to his feet. He could go 
faster after that, but he advanced with noiseless caution, for 


BOOMERANGS 


43 


he had no idea how many enemies might be near him, be¬ 
sides the two who had been firing. It was only a few 
minutes, however, as he drew nearer to the exact spot, be¬ 
fore his black eyes began to glisten with a strange, fierce 
light; his lips drew back, disclosing the rows of large, 
white teeth; and his whole body quivered, as those of the 
two boomerang-throwers had quivered just as they were 
making their casts. He felt much as a wild beast feels 
when about to spring. He made no sound until, as he 
peered fiercely out from behind a bush, it flashed upon his 
keen, instinctive intelligence that the men who had fired 
the guns were gone. He darted out of his bushy cover. 
Swift and searching were the glances of his glittering eyes, 
and they did not miss a token that Ned or Hugh had left. 
He noted the footmarks; the bloody ground where the kan¬ 
garoos had fallen; the trail made by the two horses as 
they went away; and then he raised his head. 

A sound went out through the air and floated toward 
the cabbage-palm. It sounded as if it might have been 
the cry of a distant bird. It might almost have been the 
sigh of a wind among the trees; but it must have had 
some peculiar meaning, for the blackfellows who had been 
lying hidden in the grass, out in the prairie, were instantly 
upon their feet, racing swiftly to join their comrade in the 
bushes. 

At that very moment, but several miles away, a very 
different kind of sound seemed to be hunting, hunting, 


44 


THE WHITE CAVE 


hunting around among the trees. It came from different 
human voices, and in all of them it was both inquiring and 
plaintive. 

u Coo-ee-e ? Coo-ee-e ? Coo-ee-e! ” 

The several voices w r ere not answering one another, ap¬ 
parently, but each was asking the whereabouts of some one 
who did not as yet hear or answer. They grew more and 
more anxiously questioning, as the deeper or shriller-toned 
“ coo-ee-es ” vainly rose and fell among the silent shadows 
of the endless forest. 

“ Coo-ee-e—Oh, Aunt Maude ! I can’t call any more ! But 
hear the men. I wish the boys could hear them ! ” 

u Helen! Your pony ! ” 

He was a spirited, handsome little fellow, and while 
Helen’s earnest blue eyes searched among the trees, the 
pony’s forefeet left the ground and he made a sudden leap 
over a fallen tree. 

“ Helen! Be careful! ” 

There was apparently no need for her aunt to caution her, 
for she followed every movement of the pony as if she had 
been part of him. So did Lady Parry keep her own place 
in the saddle of the larger and more powerful animal which 
carried her over the same barrier. On horseback, or any¬ 
where else, she was always a very stately, self-possessed, and 
dignified lady. 

“ Keep right on, Helen,” she said. “ I must know what 
they are going to do next. We must find those boys !” 

“ Oh, it is dreadful! ” replied Helen. 


HELEN S PONY MADE A SUDDEN LEAP OVER A FALLEN TREE 


















BOOMERANGS 


47 


They both looked pale, pained — almost frightened, as 
they rode on, and they were all the while peering intently 
through the spaces of the forest, and listening. 

“No, no,” remarked Lady Maude, again and again; 
“ there is no answer.” 

Only a short ride beyond them there was a vast, frown¬ 
ing wall of granite rock, rising almost perpendicularly 
hundreds of feet above the tallest trees. At the foot of this 
wall there rolled and tumbled and gurgled a torrent of 
clear water. Across the stream and against the rock went 
call after call5 and they were thrown back among the tree- 
tops as if the very mountain was taking an interest in the 
matter and was shouting: “ Coo-ee-e ? Coo-ee-e ? ” 

A moment later, a man on horseback rode out under the 
trees at the water’s edge. It was Sir Frederick Parry, and 
he called to one of his men, near by.: 

“ I can’t coo-ee-e any more, but I wish those boys would 
turn up. Do you think we ’re getting nearer to them, Bob ? ” 

“Yes, sir,” replied a very respectful voice, a little behind 
him. “Yes, sir. They ’ll turn up before long, sir. Had n’t 
we better go into camp, sir? We ’ve had a pretty long 
march since morning, sir.” 

“ Right away, Bob. We ’ll camp here.” 

« Coo-ee-e! ” called Bob, as he dropped, lightly from his 
horse. He raised his voice once more, in a different kind 
of cry, well known to the herdsmen, but he did not have to 
repeat it. Replies came at once from several other direc¬ 
tions, as well as from the echoing mountain. 


CHAPTER IV 


A FIGHT IN THE FOREST 

HE sharp, quick bark of an excited dog 
was followed by the loud neigh of a 
horse, the sonorous brays of mules, and 
then by the clear, musical baying of 
hounds. 

“ They’ve started something, sir/’ said 
Bob. “ I hope we may get it. Hear ’em, Sir Frederick ? ” 
“I ’d like some fresh meat,” remarked the baronet, as 
he wheeled his horse in the direction of the braying. 

He looked well on horseback, for he was a large, mus¬ 
cular man, and a good horseman. His broad, resolute face 
was cleanly shaven, his light hair was short, he wore a 
palm-leaf hat; and he had an air of being carefully well- 
dressed in spite of circumstances. 

As for Bob, he was a horseman of another kind. He 
was short, and thin, and bow-legged, and he seemed to be 
made of old saddle-leather. He wore leather gaiters up 
to his knees, one leather belt around his waist, and an¬ 
other over his shoulder. He wore a leather cap on his 
head, and he carried an all-leather whip in his hand. 

43 











A FIGHT IN THE FOREST 


49 


The cries of the hounds ceased, just as Sir Frederick 
caught a glimpse of a wagon-tilt, and of the long ears of 
the mules. 

“Marsh,” he shouted, “what are the dogs after?” 

“Dunno, sir,” came dejectedly from the lips of a long, 
lank man, who rode at the side of the six-mule team. 
“I think likely it ’s another sell, sir.” 

“ I ’m afraid it is,” replied Sir Frederick. “ I never 
saw such a country. No game, no anything ! I ’ll try 
for some fish.” 

“I’m glad there’s water, sir,” groaned Marsh. “Not a 
drop since yesterday for the mules and horses, sir. The 
young gentlemen, too, sir. It ’s awful, sir.” 

“They ’ll he found,” replied Sir Frederick. “We are 
going into camp over yonder. Boh will show you.” 

“ See the dogs, sir! There they come,” said Marsh, as 
mournfully as ever. “ But it ’s only another sell, sir.” 

Two more mounted men came cantering toward them, 
preceded by a tall, shaggy, woolly, lean dog, that harked at 
every third or fourth jump, and followed hy a brace of fine 
deer-hounds that were now silent. 

“ Brand! Keets! ” shouted Sir Frederick. “ What was.it ? ” 

“ Brand, he says it was a monkey, sir.” 

“Keets thought it was a bear, sir—” 

“Nothing in the worruld but a sloth,” sighed Marsh. 

“ Oh,” said Sir Frederick, “ the dogs have opened after a 
koala and he has got away ! We can’t chase game of that 
sort to-day. We ’ll catch some fish.” 

5 


50 


THE WHITE CAVE 


$*•- 

u There’s water, then?” exclaimed Brand. 

“Water?” echoed Keets. “ Hurrah ! ” 

Sir Frederick rode away toward the spot selected for the 
camp, directing Brand to bring him his fishing-tackle at 
once. 

“ It ’s all the same, anyhow,” said Marsh, as Brand re¬ 
turned from groping in the back part of the wagon. “ Some 
folk calls ’em monkeys, and some calls ’em bears, or sloths, 
or koalas, and they is n’t much of anything. I’m ’fraid the 
young gentlemen’s hungry enough, though, by this time, to 
eat possums and rats.” 

“ The blackfellows eat them,” said Keets. 

“ I do hope Sir Frederick will get some fish,” Marsh went 
on. “Leddy Parry and Miss Helen is tired of bacon. 
They ’ll come up, right soon —” 

Another bray of the mules interrupted him, and nobody 
seemed to notice that the dogs were still uneasy, especially 
the long-legged, woolly barker they spoke to as “ Yip.” 

At that very moment, nevertheless, something not alto¬ 
gether unlike a monkey, but not at all like a bear, was 
returning toward them along the trail the dogs had aban¬ 
doned. That trail had run out, or they might not so quickly 
have left it. At least, it had appeared to run against the 
roots of a tree, and had suddenly disappeared. It had 
really gone up the tree, and deer-hounds never climb. 
Neither could any ordinary white man or boy have made his 
way up the rugged side of that huge, gnarled trunk. Per¬ 
haps even the supposed monkey, or bear, or sloth, or koala 




A FIGHT IN THE FOREST 


51 


could hardly have done so, hut for the aid of a stick that he 
carried. It was about a foot and a half in length, fire-hard¬ 
ened, and sharp at one end, and it helped him wonderfully 
in taking advantage of projections and of dents in the bark 
of the tree. He began to climb as soon as he heard the dogs, 
and in half a minute he was away up among the branches. 
Then, altogether like a monkey, or a bear, or a very active 
sloth, he clambered swiftly along one of the branches that 
overlapped a bough of another tree, and so he passed on 
into a new hiding-place. He was in his fifth tree when the 
hounds had reached the end of their trail, at his first tree, 
and he was in a hollow that hid him entirely. He was of 
about the size of a boy of fourteen, very black, woolly¬ 
headed, not so very bad-looking in the face, and he seemed 
to enjoy the fun of peering down upon the baffled dogs and 
hunters. He evidently regarded them all as his enemies; 
and so, perhaps, they were, for they were all foreigners, and 
he was a native — a pure-blooded young Australian, among 
his own forests, and now hiding in a fork of one of his own 
blue-gum trees. 

The black boy in the tree hollow had with him four sticks. 
One was the sharp stick he had climbed with. Another was 
a club-stick or small-sized “ waddy.” Besides these he had 
a short, thin-stemmed spear, and a queer, notched bit of 
wood which belonged to the spear, for it was a “ throw-stick ” 
with which to sling the spear, instead of casting it with the 
hand. 

There he sat, quite patiently, until Keets and Brand rode 


52 


THE WHITE CAVE 


away, followed by the dogs. He knew, now, part of the 
meaning of the coo-ee-e-ing he had heard, but he did not 
know it all, and he at once came down to the ground and 
began a search after more knowledge. It led him stealthily 
from cover to cover, until he caught a glimpse of the tilted 
wagon and the mules. Then his curiosity took hold of 
him with double strength. It drew him along the ground, 
under the protection of the grass and bushes and under¬ 
growth, to the edge of the stream. He had reached a place 
some distance below the spot where Bob McCracken had 
already kindled a rousing fire, and near to which the now 
unhampered mules had hauled the wagon. He did not dare 
to get any nearer, but his black eyes gleamed and sparkled, 
and he moved his feet and hands as if he felt like dancing 
upon all of them. 

His eyes and not his lips asked questions, but he seemed 
almost ready to yell with wonder at the appearance of 
Lady Maude Parry and her niece. They were such wonder¬ 
ful specimens of the great white race, and they wore so 
wonderfully dressed. If, however, he were considering 
whether or not a black boy could get near enough to that 
camp to pick up anything good and carry it away, that 
question was answered for him by the dogs. Every man in 
the camp had said in some form: 

“ Yip, what is the matter with you 1 Do you smell game 
again ? ” 

Sir Frederick still stood upon the rock, and he was fish¬ 
ing successfully, but his face was clouded. 


A FIGHT IN THE FOREST 


53 


“ Where can those boys be ? ” he said to himself. “ I J m 
glad there are no blackfellows left in these parts. Ned and 
Hugh are in no danger of being speared.” 

Just then a sorrowful voice behind him exclaimed: 

“ Oh, Fred! Why did we ever come out into this wilderness ¥ ” 

“ My dear,” replied Sir Frederick, as he landed a fish, “ it 
was as much your idea as it was mine. We are not lost at 
all. Hugh will turn up — and Ned. Why, Helen, have you 
been crying ¥ ” 

“ Yes, she has,” said her aunt. “ I wanted to cry, myself, 
when I heard them all coo-ee-e so without any answer.” 

“ I wish the boys were here.” 

“It seems to me as if they could not be far away,” re¬ 
marked Lady Parry, thoughtfully, and she was right. 

Only a few miles from the spot where they were stand¬ 
ing, Hugh was at that very moment saying to Ned: 

“We must leave those blackfellows as far behind us as 
we can. We Ve got to make a chance to cook some of our 
kangaroo-meat.” 

“ I wish the blackfellows were about starved,” said Ned, 
“ so they’d have to stop and do some cooking for them¬ 
selves. They ’re tremendous eaters.” 

“We 11 push right along,” said Hugh; but if he could 
have looked through the trees and have seen the five other 
savages, who arose from the grass, join their scout, he 
would have tried to push on faster. 

Each of them carried, in addition to his collection of 
ordinary spears and sticks, one stick more, to show that he 


54 


THE WHITE CAVE 


was not out upon a peaceful errand. It was a carved and 
ornamented pieoe of wood, about six inches wide in the 
middle, tapering to the ends, and about two and a half feet 
long. It was a club, but it had a handle in the middle, for 
it was also used as a war-shield. 

Their antics and their fierce exclamations over the scout’s 
discoveries plainly expressed their unbounded surprise as 
well as the rage that seized them at the presence of white 
men. Only a minute or so went by before the tall, mus¬ 
cular, big-headed savage who had thrown the first boom¬ 
erang at the kangaroos, pointed at the spot on the prairie 
where his game still lay, and uttered some harsh, ragged- 
sounding words of command, for he was chief of that 
party. Then he pointed to the ground under his feet, and 
at the trail left by the horses. The other blacks went for 
the game, and he himself set out at once to follow the 
trail. At the moment, therefore, when Ned and Hugh 
were discussing that matter, the danger they dreaded was 
coming after them, as fast, or even faster, than their tired 
and thirsty horses were taking them away from it. They 
were making further remarks about the cruelty, treachery, 
stupidity, and other evil qualities of Australian black-men, 
and were picking their way among some thick, high bushes, 
when they heard a strange, vibrating cry at some distance 
behind them. It seemed as if it brought their hearts into 
their mouths, it was so fierce and threatening. 

u Hold on! ” exclaimed Ned. “ Let’s dismount. We can 
hide right here. Something’s coming. Get ready! n 


A FIGHT IN THE FOREST 


55 


“ I’m ready,” said Hugh, as they both sprang to the ground, 
“ I don’t mean to let any man spear me for nothing.” 

They were hidden by pretty good cover, for the rank bush- 
growth rose higher than their horses’ heads. 

Again the cry sounded; and now, as they peered eagerly 
back, along their own trail, they caught a glimpse of a tall 
savage gliding forward among the trees, and seeming to 
bristle with spears and sticks and war-shield. 

“ He’s after us ! ” whispered Hugh. 

li Of course he is,” replied Ned; “ but what on earth is he 
stopping for?” 

“ He ’s listening,” said Hugh. 

“ Hear him ! ” exclaimed Ned. “ That yell of his sounded 
like a crow’s caw.” 

“ There! ” responded Hugh. u See that! He dodged it! 
See him parry those spears ! Where do they come from ? ” 

“ There are more blackfellows! They are his enemies, 
and they are attacking him,” replied Ned. “ See! ” 

u Ka-kak-kia! ” yelled the tall warrior, as he skilfully 
struck aside the missiles which came whizzing at him. 
“ Ka-kak-kia! ” 

The whoop with which he accompanied his defiant utter¬ 
ance was terrific. He had shouted his own warrior name, 
with evidently no small degree of pride, precisely as if, in¬ 
stead of an Australian, he had been an American savage, an 
Apache or a Sioux. 

The skill and quickness he exhibited were wonderful, for 
not a spear nor a stick hit him, and he was all the while re- 


56 


THE WHITE CAVE 


treating swiftly from tree to tree. He was followed in a 
similar manner by about a dozen black-men, very muck like 
himself, whose discordant shouts rang through the forest. 

Ka-kak-kia was compelled to keep his face all the while to¬ 
ward his noisy enemies, and he was continually threatening 
them with his long, slender spear, but he did not throw it. As 
he shook it at them, it trembled and vibrated, and so did the 
spears of the warriors opposed to him. 

“ Why don’t they surround him?” said Hugh. 

“ They don’t know how many other fellows of his tribe 
they might find in their way, if they should try,” suggested 
Ned. “He does n’t know just where we are, and I guess 
they don’t know anything about us, or some of them would 
be coming this way.” 

“Then,” said Hugh, “we might as well lie low, and let 
him draw them off.” 

There was very good sense in that; and so it happened that 
the two lost boys, in their perilous ambush, were watching a 
perfect illustration of native Australian warfare. 


FEROCIOUS FIGURES WERE NOW DARTING HITHER AND THITHER AMONG THE TREES. 



















































CHAPTER Y 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 

HERE were already many anxious fore¬ 
bodings among the members of Sir Fred- 
erick Parry’s picnic party in their river¬ 
side camp, and they were destined to 
further anxiety. 

“Yip! Yip! Yip!” rang out again. 

The racket now made by the long-legged, woolly dog 
sounded very much as if he were calling his own name, 
while he dashed in and out among the bushes. 

“What can be the matter with him?” exclaimed Lady 
Parry, as she paused in pouring out a cup of coffee. “ He is 
surely hunting for something. He may have found a trace 
of Hugh or Ned! ” 

A chorus of louder exclamations from the men responded 
to her, but none of them were on account of Hugh or Ned. 
At that very moment the black boy in the bushes was sud¬ 
denly impelled to dart for the nearest tree and climb it, 
leaving all his sticks at the foot of it, for Yip had discov¬ 
ered him and, indeed, had barely missed preventing his 
climb. 



50 










60 


THE WHITE CAVE 


In an instant more, tlie whole camp rang with shouts of 
men, cries of hounds, the braying of mules, and there was 
a frantic “Yip! Yip! Yip!” all around the roots of the short, 
stunted sapling, in the fork of which the young savage had 
perched. 

“ Blackfellows ! ” was the first, half-breathless remark of 
Sir Frederick. “ Who’d have dreamed of it! Now, indeed, 
we may say we are in trouble! ” 

“ Hugh ! Hugh! Hugh !” exclaimed Lady Parry. “ My 
boy! Lost in the woods, among the cannibals! ” 

“Oh, Aunt Maude! Poor Hugh!” mourned Helen Gor¬ 
don. “ And poor Ned Wentworth! ” 

“ It ? s bad luck,” said Bob McCracken. “ But we ’ll get 
that one.” 

The black boy did not wish to be caught, but he had been 
imprudent. He had stared too long at that wonderful 
camp, and at that mysterious, brilliant dinner-table. 

There was no such possibility left him as climbing into 
another tree from the one he was in, and there were the 
dogs; and then came the white men, shouting to him to come 
down. He could understand their motions, if not their 
words, and down he came, but that was all the good it did 
them. Not one word of English could they get out of him, 
not even after they had fed him with broiled fish and fried 
bacon. His big black eyes continued to dance from one to 
another of them, and at the dogs and the weapons, and other 
matters. He did speak, more than once, but what he said 
was all in his own strange, monotonous tongue. 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


61 


“It ’s all gibberish,” remarked Bob McCracken; “but 
where there’s one of those fellows, you may be sure there 
are more of ’em not far away. We 11 all be speared, if we 
don’t luk out, and then we 11 all be ate up. It’s the hard 
death to die, is that.” 

Sir Frederick himself was as keenly alarmed concerning 
savages as was any member of his party, but he said no¬ 
thing. He hardly answered his wife, at first, when she 
spoke about Hugh^nd his peril. He was so silent, after 
he gave up questioning the black boy, that she almost lost 
patience with him. 

“ Frederick !” she exclaimed. “Why don’t you say some¬ 
thing. What shall we do ? ” 

“Do!” he responded. “What are we to do? That is 
precisely what puzzles me! ” 

He meant that what they needed most was information; 
for the small captive savage was a very plain and direct 
suggestion of the nearness of parties of grown-up savages, 
just such as those which Hugh and Ned were at that hour 
trying to evade. Both parties of blacks were about six 
miles distant from the camp, although as yet they did not 
seem to know it. 

As for Ned and Hugh, they were about as far away, and 
they were going farther at every step; but they had suc¬ 
ceeded in putting only a mile and a half or so between them 
and the cabbage-palm prairie, where the kangaroos had 
fallen under the boomerangs. 


62 


THE WHITE CAVE 


The boys felt very sure that they had escaped being 
actually seen by the chief, or by any of his party, or by the 
enemies who were now pitching spears at him with their 
throw-sticks. 

“ Hugh,” whispered Ned, as he cowered in the bushes, 
“oh! but can’t he dodge?” 

The tall black man was indeed dodging and parrying 
wonderfully well. His eyes were quick, his nerves were 
steady, his courage was dauntless; but then his foes were 
increasing in number. Fully a dozen ferocious figures 
were now darting hither and thither among the trees, 
throwing, or threatening to throw, their long javelins. 
They were all yelling almost incessantly, but one of them 
changed suddenly into a shrill whoop that sounded like 
a warning to the rest. Then he dropped to the ground. 
A spear hurled by an unseen hand had gone through his 
left shoulder. 

A sudden cry of triumph burst from the lips of Ka-kak- 
kia. He felt as if he were rescued, for that spear told him 
he had drawn his enemies along until his friends had heard 
the noise and had come to help him. 

The fight had really only just begun, to be sure, but now 
the first onset had for the moment ended. 

“ It was the cleverest thing I ever saw! ” exclaimed Hugh, 
as he crouched watchfully under his bush. 

“ I’d heard how they did it,” said Ned ; “ but you or I’d 
have been stuck full of spears in no time. That’s just 
what ’ll happen to us yet, if they find out we ’re here.” 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


63 


“ Let’s push along,” said Hugh. “I did n’t dare to move 
hand or foot till now.” 

The hindmost of the black spearmen were disappearing 
among the trees, and it seemed almost safe for the boys to 
begin to lead their horses onward; but neither of them 
mounted until they had worked their way through the 
woods for about one more mile. They both looked and 
talked courageously enough, but they cast quick glances 
behind them. 

They had not been followed, as yet, and for very good 
reasons. Ka-kak-kia’s enemies did not know there were 
any “white fellows,” young or old, to follow, and were 
thinking only of killing him. After his friends heard the 
noise and came to help him, both parties in the fight had 
quite enough to think of, and so Ned and Hugh were 
entirely safe for the time being — and no longer. It was 
therefore well for the boys that Ka-kak-kia had fallen into 
difficulties, but there had been no limit to the rage of his 
own squad of black hunters when the work he had left 
them at was interrupted. All five of them had obeyed his 
orders eagerly. They brought the two kangaroos in from 
the prairie to the very spot from which Ned and Hugh had 
watched the throwing of the boomerangs. One of them 
carried, among his collection of sticks, a long piece of 
wood which smoked a little and which smelled very badly. 
It was split at one end, and the split contained a bunch of 
leaves. While the others were skinning a kangaroo (for 
there was no time to dig a hole in the ground and roast it 


64 


THE WHITE CAVE 


in their usual way), this warrior was whirling that stick* 
swiftly around his head with one hand, and picking up 
bits of dry wood and bark and moss with the other. Sud¬ 
denly a tongue of fire sprang out among the bunch of 
leaves in the split; for it was a “ fire-stick,” such as the 
black-men carry on all their expeditions. In a moment 
more, the heap of dry fragments which he had gathered 
had been puffed and fanned into a blaze. 

The fire danced up merrily, and the pleasant odor of 
kangaroo venison was soon spread through the hot Decem¬ 
ber air, when suddenly they all turned their heads toward 
the forest, as if startled. 

To the ears of a white man there would have been only 
silence, or that hum of insects, the murmur of the forest, 
which is almost silence; but to their quicker senses there 
came an audible warning. Faint and far away at first, 
but drawing rapidly nearer, were the sounds of the skir¬ 
mish between Ka-kak-kia and his pursuers. It was a 
dreadful thing to have to drop cookery and kangaroo- 
meat, and to pick up spears, and throw-sticks, and shields, 
and waddy-clubs, and tomahawks, and boomerangs, but 
there was no help for it. Each man stuck down his twig 
of meat so that it would cook while he w r as gone, caught 
up his heap of weapons, and darted away into the forest. 

If there was reluctance to leave the fire, there was also 
cunning and caution in the manner of their advance toward 
the skirmish-line. The nearer they arrived, the clearer 
grew the shouts and yells, but the more silent they became; 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


65 


r nnd more like snakes in the grass, or crouching, creeping, 
wild animals, did they push on. They might possibly have 
continued to keep still until Ka-kak-kia could retreat 
among them, if it had not been for a rash forward rush 
made by one of the enemy. He made the mistake of dis¬ 
playing himself, and instantly the short, withered fellow 
who had scouted through the grass to find the boys, 
stepped out from behind a tree, and quivered a spear in the 
socket of his throw-stick. Then it sped. Down went the 
too reckless foeman, and all the secrecy of the arrival of 
Ka-kak-kia’s friends vanished in a wild storm of savage 
outcries on both sides. 

There was no attempt made by either party at a hand- 
to-hand encounter. One side knew that it was altogether 
too weak in numbers, and wanted to get away, while the 
other did not know how large a majority it had, and was 
afraid to risk too much. So the queer skirmish of in¬ 
sulting shouts, and fierce gestures, and brandished spears 
raged among the trunks and bushes and underbrush until 
a mile and a half had been slowly traversed. Nearly half 
the distance had been covered before the speared warrior 
fell. After that spears and clubs went back and forth, 
and were in a manner exchanged; but both sides were ex¬ 
perts in parrying, and nobody seemed to be hurt. There 
were, indeed, a few cuts and bruises here and there, but 
nothing that an Australian savage would consider worth 
noticing. Even the speared man seemed to care very 
little for the wound in his shoulder after the weapon had 


66 


THE WHITE CAVE 


been broken off and pulled out. It was doubtless un¬ 
pleasant to be disabled, but the shoulder would heal up 
again, and the man be as ready as ever to throw spears 
and dodge and parry. His friends felt as he did about 
it, and wasted no sympathy upon him. 

Back, back, carefully concealing their real number, the 
smaller body fought and retreated toward their fire. 
Around the blaze the five sticks still stood, each hold¬ 
ing out a steak, by this time well done and ready to be 
eaten. 

Both parties of blacks could now smell the fragrance 
from that wild cookery, for a light breeze wafted it into 
the woods, and they all fought the harder and yelled the 
louder. They shook their spears more furiously, and 
hurled them farther. 

The skirmish, which had so unexpectedly begun with 
the first appearance of Ka-kak-kia on the trail, had now 
risen to the dignity of a great battle for a hot dinner; 
but the table chances looked dark for the hunters who 
had actually stalked and killed the two kangaroos. They 
were forced to give ground, although none of them were 
as yet seriously harmed, but they were exchanging signals 
with each other. The short fellow who had acted as scout 
slipped back and began to cut and tear fresh meat. He 
gave a shout which may have meant “all ready! Say 
nothing! ”—for his comrades instantly sprang back to join 
him. Each black savage grasped a cook-stick, at the 
fire, meat and all, and another chunk of kangaroo, and 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


67 


they all darted away together across the prairie, toward 
the cabbage-palm, so quickly that their assailants were 
taken by surprise. They hesitated, for it might be a cun¬ 
ningly laid trap. They wasted more than a minute of 
precious time in dodging cautiously forward from tree to 
tree, and when they did make a desperate charge toward 
the fire, it was too late for them to capture anything more 
than the fire and the very large, freshly killed kangaroo 
left behind, untouched, by Ka-kak-kia’s fellows. That, 
however, was precisely such a war-prize as suited them 
just then better than anything else. Anybody, black or 
white, whom they might otherwise have chased and speared, 
was entirely safe so long as an uneaten morsel of that 
kangaroo should remain. 

Meanwhile no one knew anything about the red- 
bearded cave-man. Yet he was a very important member 
of the meager population of that forest. He was, indeed, 
entirely unaware that there was any other population 
except such as might be following him through the moun¬ 
tains. He was as yet several miles away from his cave- 
home, and was plodding steadily nearer, but Nig was 
giving tokens that he had traveled far under a pretty 
heavy load. Just now, however, the cave-man seemed 
to be thinking about finding some halting-place. 

“ They are after me,” he said aloud, “ and not far be¬ 
hind now. The robbers! What would n’t they do to get 
Mg’s pack. They sha’n’t get it, though. Not an ounce 
of it. I don’t care to have to shoot any of them, but 


/ 


68 THE WHITE CAVE 

they ought to be shot. They are coming; I feel sure 
of it!” 

Then he studied the trees near him, seeming to recog¬ 
nize certain marks upon some of them. 

“1’m pretty close to it now,” he said. “1 ’ll beat them 
this time”; and a few minutes later he exclaimed, “Here 
it is!” 

It was not another tree, but a swift, deep-looking stream 
of water, and he halted upon its bank. Off came the bur¬ 
den from the horse. The first part of it was a great cow¬ 
hide, strung together at the edges with thongs, so as to 
make a pannier of it. It came down upon the grass, and 
was quickly ripped open. It had been a remarkably heavy 
pannier; much heavier than one strong man could lift. Its 
contents were a number of small bags, some of leather and 
some of canvas. He picked them up, one after another, 
and carefully dropped them into the water, a few feet out 
from the bank. 

“It is only about two feet deep,” he said, “but it will 
hide them.” 

As soon as this secret work was completed, he took off 
Nig’s saddle and bridle, and led him some distance into 
the woods. 

“I Ve got to move quickly,” he said. “They are close 
behind me. There it is. Now! ” 

This time, what he was looking for and had found was 
a large tree, the upper half of which had somehow been 
knocked off, so that a vast stump was left, more than fifty 


A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


69 


feet high. At that elevation, moreover, its branches were 
enormous, and it seemed to send them out all the more 
widely because of having no higher “ top” to feed and 
carry. 

Saddle, and bridle, and rifle, and some other things were 
made into a pack, and that pack was securely fastened to 
one end of the same long, braided rope-cord with which he 
had pulled up his water-pail and lassoed the ostrich-like 
emu at the ledge near his cave. He put a stone at the 
other end, this time, instead of a noose; and then he skil¬ 
fully threw that stone over one of the lower branches of 
the tremendous tree-stump. 

“ That ’s safe,” he said. “ I can haul them up. Come, 
Nig, old fellow! ” 

The horse, which had carried him and his treasure so 
well, had now enjoyed a long drink of water. He had 
thrown off much of his over-wearied 
appearance, and was busy nibbling 
grass. The bare feet of the cave¬ 
man left no mark, but Nig’s hoofs 
did, when the horse was taken by 
the forelock and led away from 
the foot of the stump. He did 
not have to go far before he was turned loose and left to 
himself. 

“ There, Nig,” said his master, “you may take care of 
yourself for a while. I hope they won’t steal you, but I 
suppose I have only a few minutes to spare, now.” 



70 


THE WHITE CAVE 


Not far from the spot where he parted from his horse 
there hung a ragged and tangled hut strong-looking kind 
of vine, dangling down from the limb of a tree, and he ran 
to it at once. He must have been 
a sailor or a monkey, or else he 
had taken lessons from sailors or 
monkeys—or from blackfellows. 
He clambered up that swinging 
vine with a swiftness which proved 
the strength of his arms. Once 
in the tree, he went from branch 
to branch with an agility like that of the black boy who 
was now a prisoner in Sir Frederick’s camp. 

There were dangerous feats to be performed, at perilous 
heights from the earth, before the cave-man was able to 
swing himself upon a projecting bough of the great stump. 
In another minute he was astride of the branch which had 
caught and held his rope-cord, and he was pulling up his 
precious package, rifle and all. 

“I ’m safe enough, now,” he exclaimed, as he clambered 
cautiously back with it to the huge remnant of the tree- 
trunk. u They won’t guess that I am up here.” 

The summit of the stump was somewhat rotten, as well 
as broken off, and there was a hollow there more than six 
feet wide, and nearly as many deep. It was a capital place 
for a koala, or an eagle, or a runaway savage to make a 
hidden nest in. The cave-man was neither the one nor the 
other, but there he sat, peering over the edge, when no less 





THE CAVE-MAN SAT THERE, PEERING OVER THE EDGE, WHEN SIX MEN ON HORSEBACK RODE UP. 









































A CAVE IN A TREE-TOP 


73 


than six men on horseback rode up. As they came along, 
they seemed to be searching watchfully in all directions. 
They halted at the foot of the stump. 

u His trail is plain,” remarked one of them. 

“ These hoof-marks are fresh,” replied another. “ They 
lead along here. He is n't far away, now.” 

“We ’ve got him!” exclaimed a third. 

The tracks of Mg’s heavy hoofs did indeed lead away 
from that tree, and on pushed the six horsemen$ but in a 
minute or so they broke out into a chorus of astonished 
and angry exclamations. They had found the saddleless 
quadruped, feeding contentedly, while the master and his 
precious burden had mysteriously vanished. The clear 
trail which they had followed so far and so hopefully had 
at last run out j and back they came, bewildered, arguing, 
perspiring, to the foot of the stump. There they all dis¬ 
mounted and sat down. 

“ His hidin’-place is n’t far from this, anyhow,” remarked 
one of them. “ He has quit his horse.” 

“Just so,” said another, “and he can’t get away from ns. 
But what has he done with his nuggets?” 

“ They ’re somewhere nigh to this,” said a third, confi¬ 
dently. “We ’re all right, boys. Let’s take a good rest, 
and eat something. All the stuff he washed out of his pla¬ 
cer-gulch is just waiting for us to hunt it up and take it.” 

They all said more or less about being tired and hungry. 
A fire was quickly kindled, and a kettle put upon it, in a 
way that showed how accustomed they were to camping in 
7 


74 


THE WHITE CAVE 


the woods. More than half a hundred feet above their 
heads, the cave-man looked cautiously over, now and then, 
and he even chuckled almost aloud as he made remarks to 
himself concerning the perfect security of the manner in 
which he had hidden the heavy bags. 

That part of the Australian bush was becoming somewhat 
peopled, although not exactly “ settled.” The area within 
which all its known inhabitants, black and white, savage 
and civilized, had been gathered, was very narrow, how¬ 
ever—a mere patch in the great wilderness. They were 
near together, but were very much in the dark about one 
another. They might actually meet on the morrow, and 
every heart among them was beating with hope, or with 
dread, concerning that possible meeting. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 

HERE were several very extraordinary 
picnics at the same hour and in the same 
forest. They were only a few miles apart 
from each other, but no one party knew 
anything about the others. 

Perhaps the top and the bottom of 
human society were fairly represented around the camp¬ 
fires of Sir Frederick Parry and of the black chief Ka- 
kak-kia. 

For a long time Hugh and Ned had been only too ready 
for supper, but it was getting late before they dared take 
the risk of halting to cook. They had mounted their 
horses, after setting out from the scene of the skirmish, 
but it would not do to ride fast, for heat and thirst and 
travel were telling upon the poor animals. The boys felt 
a pretty strong assurance that they were not being pur¬ 
sued, just now, and that they would not be until after 
the rival bands of blackfellows should have completely 
settled whatever difficulties there might be between them. 

75 










76 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“I wish they 'd exterminate each other,” said Ned, as 
they rode along. 

“ That's what they 'd like to do,” said Hugh. 

The more they thought and talked about savages, the 
more they also thought and talked about the excursion 
party from “the Grampians,” and of the danger into which 
it was likely to fall. The great, gloomy forest seemed to 
grow darker, as they shivered over the cruel idea of an 
attack by cannibals upon the camp they had left. They 
felt blue and tired, and almost sick at heart. 

At that moment Ned's horse uttered a low, faint whinny. 

Hugh's horse replied to him a little more loudly, and 
they both w r alked onward with a quickened movement. 

“I say, Ned,” exclaimed Hugh, “do you suppose a horse 
could really sniff water, if w~e were getting near it ? ” 

“ I've heard that they could,” said Ned. “ Maybe it is so. 
Hark! Hurrah! Do you hear that f ” 

The sound which the boys now heard was a pleasant, mu¬ 
sical murmur into which the roar of heavily falling water 
dwindled on being sifted and softened through a half mile 
of forest. Ned and Hugh were, indeed, going farther from 
the camp of Sir Frederick Parry with every step, but, at the 
same time, they were drawing nearer to a great bend of 
the same stream in which he had caught his fish. 

The forest grew more open as the eager animals hurried 
forward; and the sound of the falling water became more 
distinct. It was not long before the boys broke out into 
husky cheers, that were followed by expressions of wonder. 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 


77 


The mighty torrent plunged down a precipice of nearly a 
hundred feet, broken half-way by a projecting ledge, so 
that the water reached the tumbling pool below in a great 
storm of foam. There was a capital place, at the level 
edge of the great swirl, for a horse to put down his head, 
or for a boy to dip a cup, and they all made directly for 
that spot. 

“Now,” remarked Hugh, “I don’t believe the blackfel- 
lows are after us. Let’s make a fire and have supper.” 

Ned was already looking around and picking up dry 
wood. There was plenty of it. In a few minutes a fire 
was blazing, not far from the pool, and the tired horses, 
unsaddled, were picking at the grass, while their masters 
were broiling slices of fat and tender kangaroo vension. 

Dinner, or supper, was over in the camp of Sir Fred¬ 
erick Parry, a few miles further down stream, and there 
was not one happy person in that camp. 

The white people were unhappy because: they did not 
know where they were; they did not know what had be¬ 
come of Ned and Hugh; they knew there were savages in 
the woods, and were uncertain what to do next. 

The black boy was unhappy; chiefly because he was tied 
to a sapling near the water’s edge, for fear he might get 
away and tell older blackfellows about the camp. 

Yip and the other dogs were uneasy concerning the 
black boy, and they came frequently, as if to make sure 
that he was there. 


78 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ He cannot get away while they are watching him,” 
said Sir Frederick. 

“ Of course he can’t, sir,” replied Bob McCracken, con¬ 
fidently. 

But he had been tied by white men, and he was a bush- 
boy. He seemed to be quiet enough, except his eyes, which 
were dancing in all directions. There came a moment, 
however, when his quick glances told him that no other 
eyes were upon him. He must already have been working 
at his cord fetters, for in a twinkling he was down flat upon 
the grass. 

“ Yip! Yip ! Yip! ” yelped the large, woolly dog, a few 
seconds later, as he came bounding across from the other 
side of the camp, followed by the two hounds. 

“Where is that black boy?” suddenly shouted Marsh, 
the mule-driver. 

“ Where is he ?” echoed Sir Frederick. “ You don’t mean 
he is loose ? ” 

“ He’s gone! ” roared Bob. 

“ Oh, dear me! ” exclaimed Lady Parry. “ Now they will 
all know we are here ! They will find the boys, too !” 

“ Aunt Maude! ” said Helen, “ we must hunt for them till 
we find them ! ” 

There was a general rush to the spot where the black 
boy had been tied, but he was not there, and Yip and the 
hounds were snuffing furiously along the bank of the river. 

“He’s not in the water, sir,” said Bob, as he and the rest 
stared eagerly out at every bubble on the surface. 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 


79 


There were not many bubbles to be seen, but a large tuft 
of grass and green leaves was floating down stream, not 
many yards below. 

Sir Frederick dashed on along the bank, followed by his 
dogs and men, but they saw no sign of any swimmer. 
They knew that even a black boy would have to come up 
to breathe; that is, if he were really under the water. 

He did not have to come up to breathe, however, because 
he was up all the while, breathing as usual, but with grass 
over his face, just as all his people breathe when they swim 
out to catch black swans and other waterfowl by the legs 
and pull them under. The tuft of grass floated down until 
the dogs and men went away beyond it, and then it came 
ashore in some bushes. Soon, while the search along the 
bank continued, a poor little black boy, robbed by rich 
white men of his club and spear and all his other sticks, 
darted swiftly away into the forest. 

Ka-kak-kia and his five friends, across the prairie beyond 
the tall cabbage-palm, were compelled to finish their dinner 
too quickly for comfort. But they knew, as well as if they 
had seen it, what the other band of blackfellows were 
doing. They knew they were roasting the other kangaroo, 
and it helped them decide what they themselves ought to 
do. While their enemies were roasting and eating so large 
a kangaroo, there would be time for them to escape en¬ 
tirely, and to follow the two horses and the two white fel¬ 
lows from whose trail their chief had been driven. They 


80 


THE WHITE CAVE 


picked up their sticks and went off through the woods. 
They avoided the prairie, making a circuit around it j and 
before dark the short, thin, ugly-headed fellow, who had 
played scout at the beginning, uttered a sharp, fierce yell. 
He had found the hoof-marks of the horses, and Ned and 
Hugh once more had black enemies on their trail. 

The bearded cave-man did not have any dinner to eat. 
He had nothing to do but to sit in the hollow of the big 
stump, and be patient. 

It was a very remarkable hollow. Upon a more criti¬ 
cal examination it showed proofs of having been partly 
scooped out by human hands. Fires had burned in it. 
There were even a few scattered bones, to prove that meat 
had been cooked by its occupants. There was really 
hiding-room in it for half a dozen men, if they did not 
mind being crowded somewhat when it was time for sleep¬ 
ing. Its present tenant showed no signs of being sleepy, 
but rather of an intention to sit up all night. 

The six men who Vere camped at the foot of the tree had 
not come upon so long an errand without making very 
complete provision for it. They did not intend to starve, 
if the loads carried by two led horses would feed them. 
They made coffee and they fried bacon, and they ate, and 
all the while they chatted freely concerning what they 
expected to find. 

“ You see, boys,” said the man they called Jim, “a run¬ 
away convict dares n’t ever show his face again. Besides, 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 


81 


this chap ’s done a heap of things to answer for since he 
took to the bush.” 

“Nobody ’ll ever care what we do to him,” remarked the 
man they called Bill. 

“ He had washed all the dust out of that gulch, though,” 
said Jim ; “and he won’t ever come back to it.” 

“ That’s so,” said another; “ but we know he’s carried 
away all his nuggets out here. All we’ve got to do is to 
find them. We did make one pretty good haul out of his 
pile already.” 

“Come on, boys,” exclaimed Bill, getting up as if that 
thought started him. “We can cast around a good deal 
before dark, and we can begin again fresh to-morrow.” 

They consulted for a minute or so as to how they should 
search, and then scattered among the woods in several 
directions. 

“ They have gone a-hunting after me, have they ? ” said 
the man in the tree up above them. “They are going to 
rob me, are they! Well, now, I ’ll see about that. Mean¬ 
while I want some coffee.” 

The searchers were already out of sight, and they had left 
their big tin coffee-pot, more than half full, standing before 
the fire. There it stood, simmering pleasantly, and sending 
up a steamy odor of coffee to mingle with the resinous, 
balmy breath which pervaded the woods. It was now 
almost dark. 

Something like a very long and slender and flexible vine 
came gently swinging down through the sultry air. This 


82 


THE WHITE CAVE 


ropy thread drooped gently, and swung slowly back and 
forth until a noose at the end of it took in the comfortable 
coffee-pot, just under its nose and handle. 

u I ’ve got it!” came in a sharp whisper from a form that- 
reached out over the topmost edge of the stump. "I ’ve 
got it! ” 

The noose drew tight, and the coffee-pot arose as if it had 
been a kind of tin bird without wings; it swung upward, 
swiftly, steadily, silently, until it reached the place from 
which that exultant whisper had come. Then it was 
grasped by the hand of the cave-man, and in half a min¬ 
ute more he was safe in his hollow, drinking hot coffee out 
of a small tin cup which had hung at his belt. 

“Good! ” he said. “I wish I could fish up some of their 
bacon and hardtack, but I can’t. I ’ll keep the coffee-pot and 
carry it home. Mine is about used up. There they come! ” 
The approach of dusk had put an end to the search, and 
the six rascals were making their way back to their camp. 
Suddenly one of them exclaimed: 
u Hullo! Boys, what’s become o’ the coffee-pot ? ” 

Then five astonished voices, on all sides of him, inquired: 
“ Why, where is it ? ” 

High in the deepening darkness above them a man, peer¬ 
ing over the edge of a tree-hollow, took a long, refreshing 
draft from a steaming tin cup, and said to himself, with a 
chuckle: 

“It has walked away, coffee and all, you villains! Don’t 
you wish you may get it again ? ” 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 


83 


Suddenly one of the men exclaimed: 

u Blackfellows! Nobody else could ha’ crep’ in and taken 
it!” 

“Blackfellows? We 11 all be speared if we don’t keep 
a sharp lookout! ” 

They talked it over with occasional shivers, as they men¬ 
tioned spears and boomerangs; but when their talk was 
over their conclusion came from Jim. 

“ Boys,” he said, “ our only show is to shoot ’em if we 
find ’em.” 

All six agreed to that, but the man in the tree said to 
himself: 

“ The worst thing they could do! Just like their sort, 
though. Anyhow, I can’t stay here ; and it’s dangerous 
climbing in the dark. I ’ll try it before the fire goes out.” 

There was as yet a good blaze, sending its glow quite a 
distance. Any one near the fire could not see far into the 
forest, but one out in the gloom could profit by the fire¬ 
light. The bearded cave-man now had his rifle slung at 
his back, so that his hands were free. His coil of rope-cord 
was hung over the rifle, and he crept slowly, carefully, out 
of his hiding-place, along the tree-limb. 

“ This is risky! ” he muttered. “ Sure death if I miss my 
hold, sure death if they catch a glimpse of me! I wish 
they’d made their camp somewhere else. Then I could 
wait until morning.” 

As it was, there seemed to be no help for it. On he 
crept, until that bough became small and began to bend. 


84 


THE WHITE CAVE 


What if it should break? He had no help from the fire¬ 
light, just there, and he groped anxiously out in the dark. 

u I ’ve got it! ” he said. u Careful, now,— here goes !” 
and soon he was on a limb of another tree, and it was also 
bending. 

It was a fearful undertaking, but he reached the trunk of 
that tree and went out on a limb in the opposite direction. 

u This ’ll do,” he muttered ; “ I won’t try another change 
of trees. It can’t be more than thirty or forty feet to the 
ground. The rest is easy.” 

It seemed to be so to him, but it might have been diffi¬ 
cult for most men. All he did was to seat himself firmly 
in a loop that he made at one end of the rope; put the 
rest of the rope over to the other side of the limb he was 
on, and gripe it hard; swing off and let himself down, hand 
over hand; reach the ground, and pull down the rope that 
remained. It was a regular sailor’s-hitch performance, pre¬ 
cisely ^s if that limb had been a yard of a ship. It landed 
him still dangerously near to the camp at the stump, where 
five men were now lying down- while one was pacing slowly 
around as a sentinel. 

Silently and swiftly the cave-man made his way from tree 
to tree, still guided for some time by the firelight. Here 
and there, as he groped his course, the forest was open 
enough for him to see the stars and the moonlight in the 
tree-tops. 

“ The stars tell me very nearly which way I’m going,” 
he said to himself. 


THE ESCAPE OF THE COFFEE-POT 85 

The five men who were lying on the ground around the 
stump were as yet as wide awake as was their sentinel. 
Every now and then, one of them said something to his 
mates about coffee-pots, convicts, bushrangers, police, gold 
nuggets, wild blaekfellows, boomerangs, and other matters, 
which seemed to be keeping him from going to sleep. 

Ned Wentworth and Hugh Parry had not been lucky 
enough to secure a coffee-pot, and they were not where 
they could borrow one from any neighbor. In fact, they 
did not know that they had any neighbors. 

“ I wish I knew how that fight ended,” said Hugh, “ and 
what those blaekfellows did afterward.” 

“ They could n’t all have been killed,” replied Ned, as he 
put more wood on the fire. “ I guess, though, they all had 
so much fight that they won’t follow us in the dark. Sha’n’t 
we keep watch, one at a time ? ” 

“ Of course,” said Hugh. “ I ’ll watch half the night, and 
then I ’ll wake you and you can watch the other half.” 

“Sailor watches are better than that,” said Ned. “It’s 
nearly eight o’clock now. I ’ll keep guard till ten, then you 
watch till twelve. That will give us two-hour naps.” 

“All right,” declared Hugh, and down he lay, just as if 
he expected to go to sleep; but his eyes remained wide open. 

Two hours went by. The roar of the water began to have 
something drowsy in it. Ned sat at the foot of a tree with 
his double-barreled gun in his lap, and Hugh may have 

been almost dreaming. The fire had burned low. All 
8 


86 


THE WHITE CAVE 


seemed dull, still, peaceful, and safe, when suddenly both 
of the boys sprang to their feet, exclaiming: 

“What’s that?” 

“ Ready, Hugh ! ” sang out Ned. “ Ready with your gun. 
Here they come ! v 

“ Ready ! ” shouted Hugh. “ Stand your ground, Ned! 
We must fight ! v 
















CHAPTER VII 


THE GRAND CORROBOREE 

HE roar of the surf on the shore of the 
ocean, after the ears of a listener have 
become accustomed to it, does not seem 
to interfere greatly with other sounds 
which are different from it. The roar of 
a waterfall is much like that of the surf, 
and Ned and Hugh had become so accustomed to it that 
they could talk and hear almost as well as if it had not been 
there. So when they heard through the darkness of the 
forest an altogether distinct sound, it brought them to their 
feet, ready for action. It was natural that their first words 
should be: “ The black cannibals ! They are here ! v 
Hugh had been lulled almost into slumber by the monot¬ 
onous song of the waterfall. Ned had been half dozing at 
the foot of a tree, barely awake enough to begin to guess 
that it must be almost time to change watches with Hugh. 

His eyes had opened suddenly, and he was conscious that 
he was listening to something. u It sounded like the break¬ 
ing of a stick! ” he said to himself. “ What is it ? v 

89 











90 


THE WHITE CAVE 


From the night shadows two human eyes were staring at 
him and Hugh and the fire. 

“ They are two boys! ” whispered a voice. “ How could 
they ever have come here ? They seem to be alone. Well, 
if those six villains knew it, they would rob them. This is 
a strange piece of business!” 

Just before that, he had made a forward step, and had 
trodden, full weight, upon a dry, brittle branch of a tree. 
It had broken with a sharp, loud snap, and that was the 
noise which had startled the boys. He was now standing 
still and stroking his long, bushy, red beard. 

“ I must warn them,” he said to himself j u but it may be 
the end of me. Perhaps I can get across the mountains 
again, and hide somewhere else. It is sure death to me, if 
I am taken.” 

He was almost afraid of doing a good action, for fear it 
might betray him to his enemies. He seemed to fear dan¬ 
ger from every human being, good or bad. 

He remained perfectly cool and calm about it, but sud¬ 
denly he turned his head quickly, as if he too were listening 
as intently as was Ned Wentworth. 

“What’s that?” he exclaimed. “Can it be possible? 
They are coming this way! Now I ’ve got to go right in, 
or be torn to pieces. This is horrible ! ” 

For just a moment he stood still. 

Thud, thud, crash, crash,— a great, rushing sound, accom¬ 
panied by loud, fierce cries, came through the forest. What¬ 
ever it might mean, the boys had their guns leveled, ready 


THE GRAND CORROBOREE 


91 


to defend themselves. Meanwhile the noise grew louder 
and nearer. 

“ Hugh,” said Ned, “ they ’re coming! ” 

“ Stand your ground, Ned! ” said Hugh. 

“ Boys,” shouted a deep voice out of the darkness, “ get 
close to the fire. That’s your only chance. I’m coming 
there, too. The fire! Quick! ” 

“Ned— ” began Hugh, but he was cut short there, for a 
great, dim, blurred form bounded from the shadows and 
flashed past him with a long, flying leap that carried it clear 
over the fire. 

Hugh stood motionless, but Ned was more wide awake. 
Still, it was almost by instinct that his gun came up to his 
shoulder and was discharged at that startling phantom. 
Over and over the creature rolled upon the ground, while 
another and then another followed it. 

“ Don’t shoot again, boys! Stand close by the fire. Those 
are kangaroos ! And now come the dingoes! Hear that?” 

“ Dingoes, Ned ! They are wild dogs! ” shouted Hugh, as 
he obeyed the warning. “They won’t come near a fire. 
Oh, I’m glad it’s a good blaze! ” 

“ You may be thankful,” said the deep, warning voice, as 
its owner came striding in and stood beside them. “ There 
they come ! I’ve lived in these woods a long time, but I 
never before knew of dingoes running kangaroos at night.” 

“ I’ve known them to kill hundreds of sheep at night, 
upon our place, ” said Hugh. “ That’s their time. I think 
they get their kangaroo mutton whenever they can.” 


92 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ I should n’t wonder if they did, only I never saw it. 
What a pack! ” exclaimed the stranger. Then, remember¬ 
ing that he had not said a word as to who he was, he turned 
to Ned and remarked suddenly,“ You never saw me before. 
My name’s Beard.” 

“Beard?” said Ned. “My name is Wentworth. And 
this is Hugh Parry.” 

“ I know,” said Beard, looking keenly at Hugh ; “ son of 
Sir Frederick Parry, of ‘the Grampians.’ Look at those 
dingoes! There’s enough of them to tear down a dozen 
men! ” 

The forest seemed to be full of gleaming eyes, white 
teeth, snapping jaws, fierce yells and snarls, as the dingoes 
dashed around, hither and thither, 
longing to rush in upon the three 
human beings and the fallen kanga¬ 
roo, but in wild-beast fear of the glow¬ 
ing camp-fire. 

“Heap up the fire,” said Beard. 
“We must keep it blazing. They won’t stay here. Some 
of the pack went right on after the other kangaroos. Don’t 
waste any ammunition on dingoes. It’s precious stuff, out 
here.” 

The barking wild dogs circled around the camp again 
and again, and then, as if with one accord, they gave it up, 
and the sound of their cries died away in the depths of the 
woods. Beard was right, however. No such regiment of 
dingoes had been heard of before. 





THE GRAND CORROBOREE 


93 


As for Ka-kak-kia and his five comrades, they had not 
traveled far after finding the trail which they intended 
to follow next morning, and they were now sound asleep 
among the bushes. 

The larger band of blackfellows had been in a different 
state of mind as to the best way of spending an evening. 
It had been a great thing for them to capture so very large 
and fat a kangaroo as the one which was now cooking in 
their deep, fire-heaped oven-hole. As soon as he was done 
he would make a splendid barbecue, with which to celebrate 
their victory over Ka-kak-kia. 

It was not a great while before they began to rake away 
the fire and pry out the roast. 

They ate it all, taking plenty of time and dividing fairly. 
Even the speared warrior ate well. The darkness came 
upon them before their meal was over, but their fire had 
not been permitted to burn low. It was heaped and 
heaped, for it was to be the central point of a grand 
u palti,” or u corroboree n dance, to be performed in the most 
complete manner, before taking a war-hunt after Ka-kak- 
kia and his followers. 

One of them must have had with him a bag of white 
ocher, and the kangaroo they had roasted had supplied 
grease enough to turn it into paint. They were all of 
them corroboree artists, and knew how to smear fines of 
white along their ribs and limbs, so that each black form 
suggested the outlines of a bleached skeleton. Time was 
consumed by the work of decoration, but at last they were 


94 


THE WHITE CAVE 


ready for the dance. With their u wirri” or waddy-clubs in 
hand, npon beginning, and afterward with spears, shields, 
and other sticks, snccessively, around and around the roar¬ 
ing bonfire, which they had piled up with resinous wood, 
the hideous figures pranced, and danced, and whirled to the 
time of a wild, monotonous chant. 

Then the dance changed, and one by one they bounded, 
and gesticulated, and boasted, and whooped, and brandished 
their weapons, looking very much like so many skeletons 
capering between the firelight and the darkness. The 
wonder was, how they could caper so long and yell so 
loudly, after having eaten so much kangaroo, of which, in¬ 
deed, nothing but the picked bones remained. 

It was very late when the corroboree ended, and at the 
hour when the black, skeleton-painted savages gave it up 
and lay down to sleep off their fatigue, an absolute con¬ 
trast to this barbaric scene was presented by the camp of 
Sir Frederick Parry, on the bank of the swift river. 

Two white tents had been pitched—one for Sir Frederick 
and Lady Maude, and one for Helen Gordon. Another 
tent-cover lay on the grass 5 but it had not been set up, for 
it belonged to the absent boys and was not now needed. 
Marsh, the mule-driver, lay sound asleep on a blanket near 
the spot where his mules were hitched. Bob McCracken 
also lay asleep on a blanket, just inside of the line, to which 
he had carefully fastened the halter of every horse in the 
camp. On one side of him lay a rifle, and on the other a 
gun, and he had his boots on. As for Sir Frederick’s other 


HE SAT BY THE FIRE AND COOKED FOR HIMSELF SLICE AFTER SLICE OF KANGAROO-MEAT 












THE GRAND CORROBOREE 


97 


men, Keets must have been asleep in the wagon, but Brand 
was awake and on his feet, walking slowly, steadily all 
around the camp as a sentinel. He had a gun on his 
shoulder, a revolver in his belt, and his eyes were all the 
while busy, as if he expected somebody. 

The two hounds lay under the wagon; the fire burned 
well; the horses and mules stamped now and then • while 
Yip walked around behind the sentinel, sniffing, whining, 
yawning, as if he were still uneasy. 

Ned and Hugh did not feel at all like going to sleep 
again, after having been stirred up in such a manner. As 
soon as the excitement about the wild dogs subsided a 
little, they began to stare hard at the man Beard. He was 
far more unexpected out there in the bush than were 
wolves or kangaroos. He was as little expected as the 
blackfellows. 

The boys’ presence was as great a sin-prise to him, and 
he said so. 

“ How on earth did you get away out here ?” he asked $ 
and they told him, very freely, while he sat by the fire and 
cooked for himself slice after slice of kangaroo-meat, like a 
man who was very hungry. 

“He’s a tremendous fellow,” whispered Hugh to Ned. 
“ He must be a bushranger, and a desperate sort of chap ! ” 

“He seems good-natured enough,” whispered Ned. “He 
looks as if he might be as strong as a horse.” 

“ I think he is,” said Hugh. 

9 


98 


THE WHITE CAVE 


11 Who did you say were in Sir Frederick’s party ?” Beard 
asked them. “ Tell me a^in.” 

He seemed to he talking like a man half awake, or in a 
sort of dream; hut Hugh repeated the names, one hy one. 

“Helen Gordon?” said Beard. “Any relation to the 
Gordons of Falcon Hall, in Yorkshire?” 

“ That’s where they lived once,” said Hugh. “ My grand¬ 
father does n’t keep up the hall now. He has leased it. 
My mother was his only daughter. Uncle Robert’s in 
India, in the army—” 

“ Your mother was Maude Gordon? Your cousin Helen 
is a daughter of Robert Gordon ? ” asked Beard. 

“Yes,” said Hugh, thinking it odd to he questioned 
about his family hy a wild, red-bearded fellow, there in 
the wilderness. 

“And they’re lost? Lost in the hush—and you are, 
too ? ” asked Beard, as if he needed to say something. 

“We’ve lost them, anyhow,” said Ned, breaking in. 
“We don’t know which way to turn to find them.” 

“ Tell me again about the blackfellows,” said Beard, 
turning his face once more full upon them. It was 
strangely flushed, and it looked very red in the firelight. 

Ned Wentworth had hardly had a chance to talk up to 
that moment, and it was his turn. He told all there was to 
tell up to the beginning of the skirmish, but there he was 
interrupted. 

“ Ka-kak-kia ? ” exclaimed Beard. “ I know him. He’s 
a friend of mine. He and his fellows would n’t be half so 


THE GRAND CORROBOREE 


99 


likely to kill me as the others would. A blackfellow will 
kill anybody, though, if he thinli he can gain anything by 
it. You can’t trust them. Well, what with white savages 
and black savages, and dingoes, these woods are full of 
wolves! ” 

“ The dingoes were killing sheep at ‘the Grampians’ when 
we came away,” said Hugh ; u but we did n’t think of find¬ 
ing any blackfellows or bushrangers out here. Father said 
they were all gone.” 

“ They ’re not, then,” said Beard, in a hoarse, rasping 
voice. u There are six of the worst white villains camped 
within three miles of this very spot! They ’ll be here 
after us in the morning. If they found your father’s camp, 
they’d be more dangerous than blackfellows.” 

“ They would n’t attack it, would they 1 ” exclaimed 
Hugh, springing up in sudden dismay. u What! Attack 
my father, and mother, and Helen ? ” 

“ I’m afraid so j and lay it to the blackfellows, or to me, 
if it should ever be discovered. But they would n’t leave a 
trace of it, with the river close by to hide everything in. I 
know them. They’d assert that I did it. They’ve done 
that sort of thing before.” 

All that Hugh and Ned could do was to look at each 
other and draw long breaths of fear and grief. It was a 
dreadful state of affairs, and the man Beard put his head 
down on his folded arms and sat still for fully a minute. 

“ Boys,” said he at last, looking up, “ we must n’t be near 
this fire after daylight; but we can lie down for a while 


100 


THE WHITE CAVE 


now. You ’ll all get safely out. Promise me one thing, 
on your word of honor.” 

“ We ? 11 promise,” said Hugh. 

“ I ’ll promise anything that I ought,” said Ned. u What 
is it 1 » 

“ If I get you safe hack to your own camp, promise not 
to say that you met me. You may tell your father and 
your mother, in confidence, hut you are not to tell anybody 
else.” 

They promised solemnly. 

“I have got to get out of this region, anyhow,” said 
Beard; “ hut I don’t want anybody to know even that I’ve 
been here.” 

He was evidently a very queer fellow. He was roughly 
clad, wild, savage, desperate-looking, hut there was some¬ 
thing gentle and kindly in the way he spoke. His eyes 
were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse, and now and then 
he showed his strong, white teeth. He said very little 
more, hut he made the hoys he down, telling them to go to 
sleep, if they could, and there he sat and looked at the fire, 
with his repeating-rifle in his lap. 

“ Ned,” said Hugh, as they stretched out on their blankets 
under a tree, “ do you believe you can sleep ? ” 

“It seems as if I could n’t do anything else,” said Ned. 
“ If I don’t, I won’t he worth a cent to-morrow.” 

Sleep will come to over-tired hoys, even if they try to 
keep their eyes open. So it was that neither of them heard 
the man Beard muttering, after a while, there by the fire: 


THE GRAND CORROBOREE 


101 


u So it is Hugh Gordon Parry!—and Maude, and Helen 
Gordon! Well, my time has come. What on earth made 
them all come out here to be speared or clubbed in the 
bush! No, I can save them ! I ivill save them, no matter 
what becomes of me ! v 


CHAPTER VIII 


lost! 

IR FREDERICK PARRY’S camp was 
astir at daylight the next morning. As 
soon as there was light enough to cast a 
line, the baronet himself was fishing from 
the rock by the water’s edge, and was 
having fair success, although none of the 
fish were large. He was evidently depressed, and he paid 
no attention to the preparations for breakfast going on at 
a little distance behind him. The fire was blazing vigor¬ 
ously; the camp table was already spread with its white 
cloth, its bright cutlery, its silver, and its china. There was 
also a stir in the tents, and before long Lady Parry came 
out of one of them, and Helen Gordon out of the other. 
Both were looking pale, and as if they had not rested well. 

“ Oh, Aunt Maude,” said Helen, “ I had such awful 
dreams about Hugh and Ned! I feel as if I could find 
them myself.” 

“Poor child!” exclaimed Lady Parry. “You look pale 
and ill. Yes, we must find them, and I hope we shall find 
them to-day.” 




102 


LOST 


103 


Helen tried to speak again, but her voice seemed to fail 
her, and she turned away. In another moment her aunt 
was at the water-side, exclaiming: “ Fred, where do you 
think the boys are f We must find them!” 

“My dear,” he replied consolingly, “no doubt we shall 
find them. As to getting home, all we have to do is to fol¬ 
low this river down. We will start as soon as we find the 
boys.” 

“ Frederick,” she said, “ if anything has happened to 
them, I—” 

Her voice thrilled and trembled with suffering, and there 
was so much anguish in her face that Sir Frederick turned 
away his gaze and replied: 

“Immediately after breakfast we will all search for 
them”—and just there he hooked a fish, and had an excuse 
for not saying anything more. 

Nevertheless, the day’s work of the people in that camp 
was already cut out for them; and so too for the other 
parties wandering in that forest. 

The black boy, in the shelter of a tuft of weeds, awoke 
as early as Bob McCracken among his horses. The boy 
had no breakfast to get, nor had he anything to get one 
with, for the wicked white men had robbed him of all his 
hunting-sticks. He was not discouraged, however, for he 
seemed to have a definite idea of the direction he should 
take to find his people. 

The camp of blackfellows that he set out to find with 


104 


THE WHITE CAVE 


such a remarkable degree of energy, did not contain his 
mother or aunts or sisters, for it was a camp of warriors 
and hunters, and it had left all womankind in a place so 
far away that sheep-farmers, like the owner of “the Gram¬ 
pians,” naturally supposed that no savages were likely to 
trouble them. 

The corroboree dancers must have been fatigued, for 
they had danced long and late ; but for all that they were 
stirring at the first dawn of light. They built up their fire, 
although there was not a mouthful of anything left for 
them to cook for breakfast, and neither was there any 
water for them to drink; but they did not seem at all dis¬ 
turbed by that. Soon after waking, they were searching 
among the trees for a “grass” or “blackboy” tree,—what 
white men would have called a “blue-gum” tree, or 
“ eucalyptus.” 

They found several, some old and some young 5 but they 
chose the latter. Each man began to dig with one of his 
sticks at about four or five feet from the foot of one of 
those trees. He dug down until he came to a main root, with 
fresh, succulent branches shooting from it. He cut off a 
shoot, split it, and began to chew it, getting water from it 
as if it had been a slice of watermelon, and soon there were 
no thirsty blackfellows in that party. As for eating, they 
had done well enough the day before. Their next move¬ 
ment was to sit down in a circle and hold a kind of jabber- 
talk that did not last long. They pointed at the cabbage- 


LOST 


105 


palm and across the prairie, and shook their heads. Ka- 
kak-kia and his friends would not be so unwise as to stay 
there and be speared. . They had gone surely, and the 
corroboree dancers all said so; and they were entirely cor¬ 
rect. The chief and his live followers knew that they 
would be hunted after, and they also intended to hunt for 
other people, and so all their sticks were picked up about 
as early as they could be seen, and their owners were 
already pushing on cautiously through the forest, in a line 
that indicated they intended to visit the white boys’ camp at 
the waterfall. If that were so, however, they were likely to 
find there a deserted camp, for not a man in all that bush 
was on his feet earlier than was Beard, the cave-man, and 
he at once awoke his young companions. 

Ned and Hugh had slept well, with an idea that they were 
under a sort of protection; but they sprang to their feet 
promptly when they were stirred up. Then they each 
looked very hard at Beard, as if they were anxious to see 
what sort of man he might be by daylight. 

It was not quite daylight yet, but they got an idea of a 
very powerful, very rugged, wild-looking man, with as 
gloomy a face as they had ever seen. His voice, when he 
spoke to them, was very deep, but it was kindly enough. 

“We must have breakfast directly,” he said. “ There is 
no time to spare.” 

“ Do you think the blackfellows will follow us ? ” asked 
Ned. 


106 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ There is no doubt of it/ 7 said Beard. “ They ’re too 
stupid and obstinate to give up anything. They ’ll follow 
a party for weeks, when they’ve once begun the pursuit.” 

“ Mr. Beard,” said Hugh, “ how many kangaroos there are 
in this forest! ” 

“ Yes,” said Beard. “ As soon as the blacks were driven 
off, there was nobody to hunt ’em, and so their number in¬ 
creased. That’s what brings the blackfellows back again, 
and it brings the dingoes too.” 

“ I wonder if the big flocks of sheep don’t partly account 
for there being more dingoes,” said Hugh, soberly. “I 
never thought of that.” 

“ Other men have,” said Beard. “ Wild animals have to 
eat something. The dingoes would disappear if they could 
not find food.” 

He talked freely about anything and everything that 
lived in the woods ; but every time either of them said or 
asked anything about himself, he evaded the question com¬ 
pletely, and they could learn nothing concerning him. 

“ The blackfellows may be after us,” remarked Ned, “but 
they will have some distance to travel.” 

“The white savages have n’t far to go,” replied Beard. 
“ I’m more afraid of them. I’m going to put you into a 
safe hiding-place for a while, and then I’m going to scout 
and see what they ’re about. I don’t want you to be speared 
or shot while I’m away.” 

“ I quite agree with you,” said Hugh j “ but we must find 
our camp.” 


LOST 


107 


“ Don’t worry/’ replied Beard. “ Let ns get away from 
here first.” 

The horses being quickly saddled, the boys mounted and 
set out. They took all their game with them, as they might 
need it for food. 

The six white rascals who had camped at the foot of the 
great stump were also astir early. While they were eat¬ 
ing breakfast, however, they watched carefully the woods 
around them, and talked about blackfellows and coffee¬ 
pots. Not one of them had the least idea that the lost 
coffee-pot was at that moment resting quietly within the 
hollow of the enormous trunk beside them. 

u Tell ye what, boys,” said Bill, at the end of a long dis¬ 
cussion, u we have n’t come away out here for nothing this 
time. We sha’n’t really run against any blackfellows. 
They ’re shy of such a party as this is. They ’ve cleared 
out. We’ve got to git that fellow’s nuggets, though,—cost 
what it may! ” 

They decided to hunt on foot, in couples, and not to get 
so far apart from one another that one couple could not 
hear a signal-call from the next. 

“ We ’ll find him, sure,” said Jim. “ He’s built himself a 
cabin of some sort to live in, somewhere round here. I 
reckon it was a pretty safe place, too, till we tracked him.” 

They set out upon their thieving scout at just about the 
time when Beard halted and said to Ned and Hugh: 

“ Here we are, boys! ” 


108 


THE WHITE CAVE 


They had traveled several miles, and the morning was 
well advanced. 

“Now we will hide the saddles and bridles,” he added; 
“ and we can put the horses where we can find them again. 
I ’ll show yon how to do that.” 

Ned and Hugh hated the thought of giving up their 
horses, but their estimate of the danger they were in had 
been growing all the way, and they dismounted. The sad¬ 
dles and bridles were easily disposed of by hanging them 
upon a scrubby sapling among some rocks tangled over 
with vines and bushes. The horses were led across a flat, 
bare ledge, on which their hoofs left no mark, to a wide, 
grassy open, where they were picketed by Beard, to feed 
until they should be wanted. 

“ Now, my friends,” said he, “ come right along. I am 
going to show you a secret that you must keep.” 

u I wish somebody would show us our camp. Oh, for a 
sight of father and mother and Helen ! ” said Hugh. 

“I think I can find that easily,” said Beard, “as soon 
as the woods are clear. Your mother would wish you to 
come in alive, though. I can tell you that.” 

It was a serious warning, and yet the great shadowy for¬ 
est around them looked peaceful enough, in spite of all its 
wolves, four-footed or two-footed, white or black. 

There was one part of that forest where, at that time, a 
great deal was occurring Avithin a small space. The great 
towering trees—palms, and gum-trees, and other kinds— 
were so scattered as to make it appear almost open and 


LOST 


109 


sunny. It was very beautiful, but it was a deceitful beauty 
that concealed many dangers. Here and there were lines 
and clumps of bushes and undergrowth, that divided the 
open forest spaces into glades and lanes and green vistas 
which branched into and away from one another. 

Along one of these green vistas rode a man with head 
bent forward, as if he were absorbed in deep thought. It 
was Sir Frederick. 

“Lost!” he exclaimed at last. “To think of Ned and 
Hugh lost in the bush!—to die there of hunger and thirst, 
or to be killed by black cannibals! It is horrible! ” 

Then he raised his head and looked around him for a 
moment. 

“ Maude! ” he called. “ Come this way! You should not 
wander so far, my dear. Helen! ” 

No answer came, and again he called j and then his face 
grew suddenly pale. 

“Where are they?” he exclaimed. “In which direction 
have I been riding? Where is my wife? Helen! Are 
they lost ? Am I lost ? ” and putting his hand to his mouth, 
he gave a long, half-tremulous, and alarmed “Coo-ee-e! 
Coo-ee-e! Coo-ee-e! ” He ceased, and once more his head 
bent forward, almost down to his horse’s mane. 

Sounds do not travel far among tree-trunks, bushes, un¬ 
dergrowth, and broken ridges of rough ground. It was 
not far to where a lady on a bay horse was leaning over, at 
that very moment, to free the skirt of her flowing riding- 
habit from a branch of thorn. 


10 


110 


THE WHITE CAVE 


As she once more sat erect, she glanced around her. 

“ Frederick!” she exclaimed; and after another moment 
of silence she added, in tones of increasing excitement, 
“ Where is he ? He was in sight only a minute or so ago. 
Fred! Am I lost—lost in the bush ? Frederick! ” 

Full, loud, frantically clear was that last cry for help 5 
but Lady Maude Parry was mistaken. It had been fully 
five minutes since she had seen her husband or niece, and 
they had been galloping in different directions among those 
deceptive forest avenues. 

At the end of one of these, at the base of a rugged ledge 
of rocks, a fair-haired girl reined in a graceful, spirited 
white pony. 

“ Uncle Fred and Aunt Maude will catch up with me in a 
moment,” she said. u We can’t hunt for Ned and Hugh any 
farther in this direction. And yet it would be terrible to 
go back to camp without them.” 

She wheeled her pony as she spoke, and he made only a 
few bounds forward before he was again reined in, and 
Helen looked rapidly around her. 

u They ’re all the same,” she said uneasily. u One glade 
is just like another. Which of them did I come by? If I 
should ride around I might lose myself. They ’ll come.” 

She waited, while her pretty face put on an anxious 
expression. 

“ Aunt Maude! Uncle Fred! ” she shouted, half weeping. 
“ Why don’t you come 1 It all looks alike. I don’t know 
which way to turn! ” 


LOST 


111 


She did not dream that almost at that same moment her 
uncle was leaning very despairingly over his horse, nor that 
her aunt had lost her way in the maze of trees j hut Helen’s 
face put on an ashy paleness as she turned it upward. Her 
lips were moving, too, hut there was no sound to he heard, 
and all around her was the awful silence of the endless 
Australian forest. 

Thus they remained for a while, so very near to each 
other and yet so separated, each afraid to move for fear of 
going farther away, and each growing sick at heart as the 
sense of helpless loneliness crept over them. 

In another direction, less than two miles distant, a man 
rode excitedly into an open place, a camp hy a little river, 
shouting: 

“Boys, mount again! I Ve lost track of them! Sir 
Frederick and Lady Parry and Miss Helen! They ’re out 
in the hush ! ” 

Three other men sprang into their saddles, shouting to 
each other and to the dogs; and in a moment more the 
camp was left in charge of some spare horses and six mules, 
while its keepers dashed away into the woods. Not one of 
them, however, went in the right direction to find any of 
the missing persons. 

Sir Frederick Parry was a man of firm nerves. He was 
a cool man and hrave, and now he reined in his horse and 
reasoned calmly: 

“ I can’t sit still here,” he said. “ I will try to go hack 
along my own tracks. There, I can see the hoof-marks if I 


112 


THE WHITE CAVE 


ride slowly. The worst of it is that a hlackfellow may see 
them better than I can ! I must find them ! ” 

His wife also was riding onward, but she was not looking 
for any trail. She was trying to guess her way, and every 
now and then she sent out a plaintive “ Coo-ee-e! ” 

Again,— again,— again,— and each time she paused and 
listened, painfully; but no answer came back to her from 
the leafy silence. Lady Maude burst into a fit of weeping 
that made her tremble from head to foot. 

Helen was only so far away that she could not hear, and 
she, too, attempted, time after time, to shout “Coo-e-ee”; 
but it seemed to her as if her husky, frightened voice could 
hardly have startled a bird that she saw rise from a wdde- 
branching tree beyond her. 

“No one could hear it,” she said to herself. “Even if 
there were blackfellows in the woods, they could not hear 
such a weak little call. They would not know I am here. 
How horrible it would be to see one of them ! n 

She seemed to find relief also in urging her pretty pony 
to a brisk gallop that carried her farther yet from the 
friends who were looking for her, and for whom she was 
so earnestly searching. 













. 
































CHAPTER IX 


THE LITTLE VOLCANO 

HE first to escape from doubts and difficul¬ 
ties, that morning, was the little black- 
fellow j for he found the spot where his 
friends had eaten their barbecue and 
danced their corroboree. He also found 
some kangaroo bones, but more impor¬ 
tant to him were half a dozen of the gum-tree roots, for he 
was thirsty. 

All his anxiety was now gone, for he could follow the 
trail of the party. He at once set out vigorously, and it 
was well for him that his tremendous budget of news did 
not weigh anything. 

Perhaps the next to discover something new were the 
pair of white boys. They had been wondering, for half a 
mile, at Beard’s easy strength as he strode along under the 
weight of a big kangaroo upon his shoulder. At length he 
put it down upon the grass, and remarked, “ Here we are, 
boys. We are safe now. I ’ll put you into my house, and 
shut the door after you, and then even blackfellows can’t 
find you.” 



115 












116 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“It ’s the biggest tree I ever saw, but I don’t see any 
house,” Ned remarked. 

“ It’s the biggest house you ever saw, too,” said Beard, 
“ and the deepest cellar, and highest and steepest roof. It 
will hold plenty of people, too, after they once get in. But 
the front door’s a little narrow. Wait until you see the 
back door, though.” 

Hugh stared up at the dizzy height of the tree and 
searched among the rocks and bushes. 

u Where is the door ? ” he asked. 

“ Can’t you see it ? ” said Beard. “ Follow me, and I ’ll 
unlock it for you.” 

He led them a few steps farther through the bushes, and 
they found themselves in a hollow between two gnarled 
roots of the tree. Behind and over them was a dense green 
cover of vines and branches and tall weeds ; and in front 
of them was the rugged face of the bark, with a large flat 
stone leaning against it. 

Beard moved the stone, took out a wide piece of bark, 
and then they saw a hole. 

“ That’s the door,” said Beard. “ I ’ll go in and you fol¬ 
low me. Then I ’ll come out and bring in this kangaroo, 
and go back after the other. Then I can close up the 
house.” 

He crept in on all fours. 

“ I carry my things in on my back,” he said,—“ game, and 
coal, and wood, and everything. I have to go some dis¬ 
tance for my coal.” 


THE LITTLE VOLCANO 


117 


Hugh went down on all fours and followed Beard. Ned 
imitated them. They did not say a word until Beard 
remarked: 

“ There, boys, I’ve found a torch. Have you matches ? 
Give me one.” In a moment more there was a blaze, and 
they began to see about them. 

“ Hugh,” exclaimed £led, “ look at the stalactites and sta¬ 
lagmites ! It is a cave, and like some we have in America. 
What a splendid house to live in.” 

“ Did n’t I tell you so ? ” said Beard, “ and it’s the big¬ 
gest house you ever saw. When I was here last, I brought 
in heaps and heaps of wood and coal, chiefly because I’d 
nothing else to do. We ’ll light a fire in the fireplace, and 
then we ’ll go and hang the meat in my refrigerator, so 
that it will keep. If we don’t, it ’ll spoil soon in this hot 
December weather.” 

“Your refrigerator 0 ?” said Hugh. “Oh, is n’t this jolly! 
Come on, Ned, I want to see the cave.” 

Beard went back after the kangaroos, and before his re¬ 
turn they had plenty of time to kindle the fire in the fire¬ 
place he had pointed out, and then to examine all the splen¬ 
did whiteness. They had very little to say. There was so 
much of it. to see that they could not pick out the right 
words to tell how it looked. They piled wood upon the 
fire, excusing themselves by promising they would bring in 
more for him, and every fresh knot which kindled brightly 
showed them something new and beautiful. 

“ Now, boys,” said Beard, when he came back, “ you shall 


118 


THE WHITE CAVE 


see the refrigerator, and then I ’ll go out and scout a little. 
Pick up that rope and bring it with you. Take the torch, 
too. Go ahead, Ned.” 

Ned walked on in advance, carrying the torch, in the 
direction of a mysterious crash and roar they had been 
puzzling over ever since they entered the cave. 

“ I’ve read about such things,” said Ned, as Beard ex¬ 
plained the chasm and the torrent. “ They seem to have 
them in all the big caves. I wonder if there are any fish 
in this one. Sometimes there are blind fish.” 

“I never tried for any fish,” said Beard; ‘‘but if you hang 
meat far down in the depths there, it will almost freeze. 
There’s always a draft of air and a spray of water, making 
a continual evaporation. It’s a regular freezing process.” 

Beard slung the kangaroo carefully over the edge, and 
let it down. 

“ There,” said he, “ I ’ll go back for the other. We must n’t 
waste any provisions.” 

He was not long in returning with his second load. 

“ Boys,” he remarked, as he put it down, “ we were only 
just in time. I heard one of those land-pirates 1 coo-ee-e 1 
just as I was picking up the kangaroo.” 

“ What do you mean by 1 pirates ’ ¥ ” asked Ned. 

“Land-pirates,” replied Beard with emphasis. “They 
may be old convicts, but I don’t know. They are robbers, 
anyhow, of the worst kind.” 

“We’ve had any number of our sheep stolen,” said Hugh, 
“ but not from the pastures that extend this way.” 



THE BOYS EXPLORE THE WHITE CAVE 















THE LITTLE VOLCANO 


121 


u This way ?” exclaimed Beard. u Why, yon are nowhere 
near any of your land. You could n’t get back to the 
edge of it in three days’ travel, if you did your best.” 

“ This makes seven days since we came out,— a whole 
week! ” said Hugh. u Oh, if I only knew where the rest 
of the party are ! ” 

11 1hud them for you,” said Beard j 11 but I want two 
or three of Ka-kak-kia’s blackfellows to help me, if I can 
get them.” 

“ Can you trust them ? ” asked Ned. 
u Trust them ? No ! ” replied Beard, promptly. “ But 
they ’ll do anything for plenty to eat and drink; and if 
your party is strong, they will be afraid of it. I don’t know 
how it is, but I’ve been safe among them, year after year. 
That is — pretty safe. They try to kill me, every now and 
then; and after they fail we make up.” 
u They are a queer people,” said Ned. 
u They are not like any other,” said Beard. “ But we will 
hang this second kangaroo in the refrigerator, and then f’ll 
go out and see what those fellows are doing.” 

The game was attended to, and then the boys followed 
him almost to his front door as he went out. 

“ You stay right here,” said Beard, as he left them, “ un¬ 
less I am gone too long. I won’t be long, unless something 
happens to me.” 

The boys felt they were wonderfully well hidden. No¬ 
body, except Beard, knew where they were. In fact, their 
party did not know just where they themselves were. 

u 


122 


THE WHITE CAVE 


The six men who had lost their coffee-pot, and were hunt¬ 
ing Beard and his nuggets, threaded the woods, occasion¬ 
ally coo-ee-e-ing to each other, to keep from getting too 
widely separated. At last one pair of them stumbled upon 
so sudden a surprise that the shouts they gave made the 
woods ring. Not many minutes later, all six had collected 
around the remains of the boys’ deserted camp-fire, and 
were staring at the marks upon the ground, and at the 
waterfall. 

“Boys,” said Jim, “he’s got somebody with him,— fel¬ 
lows with boots on. He was barefooted himself. Now 
we ’ve got to move carefully.” The man called Bill re¬ 
marked : 

“ What beats me is, who can it be that’s with him ? Why, 
he dares n’t go into any settlement —he’d be hung as sure 
as they caught him. That’s what makes it safe for us to 
go after him.” 

“We’ll track him right along now, anyway,” said Jim. 
“We’ve struck his trail.” 

And that very moment there were morning visitors in 
the camp which the robbers had left unguarded, at the foot 
of the great stump, for Ka-kak-kia and his five followers 
had stumbled upon something entirely unexpected in their 
search among the woods. They were looking for a pair of 
white fellows, and now, instead of them, they had discovered 
the trails of three times as many other white fellows and 
of a lot of horses. Slowly and cautiously did the black 
hunters work their way in. But immediately after they 


THE LITTLE VOLCANO 


123 


discovered that the camp was unguarded, they were gath¬ 
ered around its smoldering fire. They jabbered for a few 
minutes, and then, as if with one accord, they became silent, 
for they had decided what to do. Horses they did not want, 
and there was little else to take, excepting a kettle, two fry¬ 
ing-pans, some blankets, and the provisions. Beard’s six 
enemies were not men who would bring a needless article 
with them, even if they had owned one. The blackfellows 
themselves, expecting to be pursued, took only what they 
could handily carry. They made short work of it, and then 
seemed to vanish, so suddenly did they slip away. Mean¬ 
while the white robbers finished their visit to the camp by 
the waterfall, and once more pushed on, following the trail 
of the horses. They moved silently and with caution, feel¬ 
ing sure that their prey was at hand. They passed the jun¬ 
gle in which Beard had hidden the saddles and bridles, 
to the point where the hoof-marks ceased upon the rocky 
level. Here they turned and went up the rugged hillside, 
expecting every moment to discover some sign of a human 
habitation. 

“Boys!” suddenly exclaimed Bill. “Lie low! See the 
smoke! ” 

“ Smoke ? ” exclaimed his companions, and they hid 
themselves. 

“That must be from his fire,” said Jim. “He’s there. 
We’ve got him this time—nuggets and all!” 

They worked their way forward with watchful, feverish 
eagerness. There was indeed a column of blue smoke aris- 


124 


THE WHITE CAVE 


ing above the ledges ahead of them, and there must needs 
be a fire; and a Are must be a sure tell-tale of the hands 
which kindled it. 

They were by no means in error. Nevertheless, they 
drew nearer and nearer to that smoke cloud without dis¬ 
covering any chimney. 

“ He must be there, somewhere,” said one of them, as he 
stealthily looked out from behind a shattered boulder. “ I 
can’t see any sign of a cabin, though. Hullo ! ” 

He stepped out and walked forward, followed by his 
party, all with their eyes and mouths opening in wonder. 

“ Volcany ! ” exclaimed Bill. “ Did you know there was 
any volcanies round here ? I never heard of any.” 

“It ? s a volcano!” said another. “No mistake about 
that.” 

“ Smells like pine-wood, too,” said Jim. “ It’s a pitch- 
burnin’ volcano. I ’ve heard tell of such.” 

The smoke came hotly up through a crevice in one of 
the ledges. It seemed to be carried by a strong draft, as 
if through a natural chimney. 

“ I say, boys,” remarked Jim, “ when I first saw that 
smoke, I was just sure we ? d found his house.” 

They stood around that puzzle, and then they gave it 
up, and climbed down again to take another hunt for the 
lost trail. They had a great deal to say about volcanoes, 
as they went, until they changed the subject, and then 
they spoke of big trees. Several declared that they had 
seen taller trees than one they were approaching. Then 


THE LITTLE VOLCANO 


125 


each added that he was n’t quite sure, and he ’d take a 
closer look at it. 

They went closer, and they looked, and wondered, and 
they argued about what they had done and were going 
to do. 

The bushes at the foot of the tree were thick, and made 
a good place for six warm, tired men to sit down and talk. 
It was shady, and just behind them there was a curious 
crack in the bark of the tree, between two of its roots, and 
behind the crack there were two faint whispers. 

“ Hush-sh, Hugh! It is lucky we did n’t try to get out 
any sooner.” 

“Listen, Ned! We can find out all about them. Hear 
that?” 

Hugh and Ned heard the conclusion of their conference. 

“ Come on, boys,” said Jim. u We ’re on the right track, 
anyhow. Let ’s go back to camp and get our horses and 
truck, and then make another search here. He is n’t far 
away, now. We can settle the two fellers with him easy 
enough.” 

Ned and Hugh nudged each other as they heard that. 
The others agreed with Jim. Then they arose and walked 
away. 

After they were at a safe distance, the bark door opened 
entirely, and the two boys crept out. 

u Hugh,” said Ned, “I’m glad to see daylight again. I 
just could n’t stay cooped up there any longer! ” 

“ It did seem an awful long time,” said Hugh. “ I wish 


126 


THE WHITE CAVE 


I knew what ? s become of Beard. What has kept him 
away so long?” 

“ I hope nothing*s happened to him,” said Ned. “ Did 
you hear those fellows say that they’d found the place 
where the smoke gets out ? ” 

“Boys,” said a deep voice behind them that startled 
them tremendously, “I ? m glad you heard what those 
pirates had to say. Tell me all about it. There are lots oj 
blackfellows in the woods, and I had to get home throuj 
the side door. I found you ? d come out this way.” 

“ The side door?” exclaimed Hugh. “I did n’j 
there was any.” 

“ Yes, there is,” replied Beard; “but I ? m not^ure that 
you and I will ever get out alive through any sjp; of doc 


rN M 







CHAPTER X 


A SPEAR AND A BUCKSHOT 

IR FREDERICK PARRY was an exceed- 
ingly prosperous man. He was a baronet; 
a gentleman of high rank; educated; 
accomplished; very good-looking. He 
owned estates in England, and he had 
a fine sheep-farm in Australia, with a 
remarkable farm-house in the middle of it. But he was 
also a wretchedly miserable person. He was pale at one 
moment and very red-faced the next, as his thoughts came 
and went; and he was savagely out of temper all the time. 

“ It is of no use ! ” he muttered hoarsely. u I’m too sick 
at heart to coo-ee-e any more. Where can my wife be ? v 

At that moment something flashed closely past his head, 
making a buzzing sound as it went; but it was not an 
insect nor a bird, and the baronet spurred his horse for¬ 
ward with a quick, fierce exclamation. 

“ A spear! ” he exclaimed. u The blackfellows ! v 
No second spear followed, and Sir Frederick drew his 
rein hard, as he looked back and saw a gaunt, black shape 

127 



128 


THE WHITE CAVE 


bounding along among the trees. The baronet had a shot¬ 
gun with him, and he must have been accustomed to shoot¬ 
ing from the saddle, for up it came to his shoulder. Out 
rang a loud report, and a shower of buckshot pattered 
sharply all around the bounding blackfellow. 

“It was long range,” said Sir Frederick, “and they 
scattered j but I touched him.” 

For the savage had dropped upon the ground, and was 
holding up one of his feet to look at it. A solitary buck¬ 
shot, nearly spent, had struck a little above the big-toe 
joint. It was not at all a dangerous hurt, but for a while 
there could be no more bounding or fast running upon that 
foot. The blackfellow rubbed the foot, and chattered an¬ 
grily as he did so. Sir Frederick watched him for a mo¬ 
ment, but did not lift his gun again. 

“ I hope that will be enough,” he said, as he once more 
rode forward. 

The necessity of keeping a lookout for spears and other 
missiles gave him something to occupy his mind. He care¬ 
fully reloaded his gun. “ If they follow me,” he said, “ they 
may be less likely to find Maude.” 

In another part of the forest, his wife was wandering 
aimlessly. She was very pale, and her horse looked as if 
she must have ridden rapidly in her fruitless efforts to find 
her husband. She herself took notice of his condition, and 
in a moment more she halted him. 

“ He ought to have* water,” she said. “ I Ve been almost 


A SPEAR AND A BUCKSHOT 


129 


cruel to Mm. I ’ll dismount and let him rest, if I can find 
a place that looks safe.” 

It was not difficult to pick out a grassy hollow bordered 
by dense thickets, and Lady Parry dismounted. She gath¬ 
ered up the long skirt of her riding-habit, and walked on 
for a few paces, and then suddenly sank upon the ground 
between two of the bushes. 

“ Blackfellows! ” she whispered. “ Oh, I hope they have n’t 
seen me! ” 

They had not seen her, because they were gazing intently 
in another direction. They were stealthily moving away 
from her, for they had passed through the very thicket 
where she was now lying. 

u Poor Helen! ” she murmured, as she looked out at the 
receding forms of the blackf ellows. u I hope she has found 
her way back into the camp.” 

Helen Gordon’s light-footed pony had only carried her 
farther and farther away from it, in zigzag paths that 
were but bewildered wanderings. 

“ I’m so thirsty,” she said at last; “ and Nap must be as 
thirsty as I am. Where can we be! Oh, if I could see 
somebody! ” 

It was only a minute or so before her lips opened again, 
and this time it was in almost joyful exclamation. 

“The river!” she shouted. “We can drink, and the 
camp can’t be far away. Hurrah ! ” 

She dismounted, stooped, and drank from her hand 
until her thirst was gone. Then she led her pony to the 


130 


THE WHITE CAVE 


water’s edge. All the while, however, a thoughtful shadow 
overcast her face. 

“ The camp is on the bank of the river,” she said. 
“That ’s sure; but am I above it or below it? Ought I 
to go up-stream or down-stream? I have n’t the least idea; 
and if I go wrong, I shall only be riding further away. 
What shall I do?” 

She sat down in the shade of a tree to think, while 
Nap found a very good dinner for himself growing all 
around him. 

Beard stood with the boys under the great tree. He 
made them repeat to him all they had overheard. 

“Volcano?” he said, half laughing. “It ’s all right, 
though. The smoke goes out there, but it can’t tell tales 
that will do any harm. They can’t get in by that way, and 
they can’t And any other, unless we get careless and help 
them. I think very likely they have found your old camp 
by the waterfall, and have gone back there. It ’s a good 
spot for a camp.” 

“ Mr. Beard,” exclaimed Hugh, “ I hardly know in what 
direction that is from here. Where does that river run to, 
from that place? What ’s the nearest road to it from 
here ?” 

“ Where does it run to ? ” replied the cave-man. “ Why, 
it wanders off among the mountains, I don’t know where. 
It runs all around this mountain. You can reach it that 


A SPEAR AND A BUCKSHOT 


131 


way, below, as well as by going back to the waterfall. 
Your father’s party must be somewhere below there.” 

“ I wish I could find them,” said Hugh. 

“We must be careful,” said Beard. “We ’re in a bend 
of the river, with the mountains behind us, in the bend, 
and the forest in front of us. We ’re sure that your father 
is n’t up-stream.” 

“ How ? ” asked Hugh. “ I ’m all mixed up. How are 
we sure?” 

“ Because,” said Beard, “ water does n’t run up-hill. 
1 The Grampians ’ is lower than this mountain country. He 
has n’t crossed the water, and he has n’t crossed the 
mountain-range. There ’s only one pass through the 
range, and it ’s the one those robbers followed. We ’ll 
eat dinner now ; and then I ’m going to scout up toward 
their camp and know what they ’re doing. This will be 
an exciting day, if I ’m not mistaken. Don’t you feel 
hungry ? ” 

They crept quickly in; Beard followed and closed the 
door behind him, and in a few minutes more the infant 
volcano, away up at the chimney-top on the mountain-side, 
was puffing smoke at a great rate. 

Beard seemed disposed to eat very rapidly, as if he had 
important work before him. Soon he said: 

“ I must know what they ’re doing. When you go out, 
shut up the door tightly and don’t go far. Keep under 
cover, too.” 


132 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ All right” said Ned, as the cave-man picked np his rifle 
and strode away. 

“Ned” asked Hugh, “do you know any more about all 
that geography than you did before he explained it ? ” 

“ Not much,” said Ned, thoughtfully. “ I know there ’s 
a bend in the river and another in the mountain, and 
the cave is in the bend, and the river does n’t run up¬ 
stream.” 

“ That’s all I know,” said Hugh. “ It’s mixed ; but here 
we are, and he says that father’s camp must be below, and 
he thinks he can find it. I hope he can.” 

“ He means to try it to-night, if he finds the woods clear 
enough,” said Ned, holding out another chop to the fire. 

No sooner had the white rascals regained their camp, 
than they saw something was wrong. 

“ Boys! ” shouted Jim, the instant he walked in and 
looked around him. “ Somebody ’s been here ! ” 

“ The horses are all right,” shouted a man who had gone 
to look for them. 

“Horses!” exclaimed another. “We can’t eat horses! 
Where’s the bacon ? ” 

The bacon was hunted after in vain, and so were other 
articles upon which they had relied for dinner. They soon 
gave up trying to express their feelings about it. 

“We ’ve got to find that fellow, and find him right 
away,” said Jim; “but first we must change camp, and 
then hunt game or starve.” 


A SPEAR AND A BUCKSHOT 


133 


“No, we won’t,” said Bill. “We kin ketch fish. We 
won’t starve. We ’ll git the nuggets, too, if we ’re not 
speared by the blackfellows.” 

“ The blackfellows will never come near such a crowd as 
this, if we keep together,” said another man confidently. 

But even as he spoke, a pair of dark, searching eyes were 
watching him through a tangle of thick vines, and Ka-kak- 
kia was remarking in his own tongue: 

“ Too many rifles. Kill blackfellows by day. Can’t kill 
so well with rifles after dark. Wait till night. Then black¬ 
fellows have a chance to spear them.” He said something 
more about waddy-clubs and their uses, but he lay very still 
while the white fellows saddled their horses and mounted, 
and dolefully rode away. 

Bob McCracken, and the other men belonging to the 
camp of Sir Frederick Parry, rode into it again to cook and 
eat their dinner $ but they were a crestfallen company, and 
even the horses they dismounted from had a jaded look. 
So had Yip and the two hounds. 

“ There’s no use denying it,” said Bob, as he poured out 
four cups of the coffee he had made, “ Sir Frederick’s lost 
himself, just as those two young fellers lost themselves, 
and her leddyship’s gone off and lost herself, and whether 
she’s got the young leddy with her or Sir Frederick, there’s 
no telling.” 

“ Bob,” groaned Marsh, the driver of the mule-team, 
“we ’re as much lost as any of ’em—excepting that we ’ve 
got enough to eat and drink.” 

12 


134 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ You ’re not a leddy! ” exclaimed Bob. “ Think of that! 
Don’t I wish her leddyship and Miss Helen had a cup of 
this coffee!” 

It was a curious time; so many different parties dodging 
around in those woods, each group of persons ignorant of 
where the others were, and of what they were doing. 

“Ned,” said Hugh, as soon as they had finished their din¬ 
ner, “ I’m puzzled about that side door; where is it, and 
how did he get in ? ” 

“ We’d be likely to get lost in the cave, or to break our 
necks, if we tried to find out,” said Ned. u Let ’s do as he 
said, and go out and look around.” 

Hugh agreed to that, and they started; but both found 
much to say about the wonders of the place they were in. 

“Beard must have been burrowing like a woodchuck, 
when he found it,” remarked Ned, as he crept out into the 
open air. 

“ I can’t guess how he did it,” replied Hugh ; and then he 
turned to fit the bark slab into its place. 

They had an idea of the direction in which Beard had 
gone, and they quickly decided about their own. 

“We can’t stay here, doing nothing,” said Ned; “and 
we might find some of our folks. Let’s each take a sepa¬ 
rate track. We must n’t go too far, and we can be back in 
an hour or so. Beard may be here by that time. What do 
you say ? ” 

“All right,” said Hugh. “But remember what he said 
about keeping well under cover. I ’ll go this way.” 


A SPEAR AND A BUCKSHOT 


135 


So the American boy slipped away in one direction, and 
the English boy in another, each with his heart beating, his 
fingers tingling, and his eyes watching keenly every sight 
and sound of the luxuriant “bush” around him. 

Two or three miles beyond them, there was a very remark¬ 
able meeting at about that hour. A tall blackfellow, with a 
handful of sticks, was limping along painfully on his left 
foot, to which something had happened, when there came 
running to catch up with him a black boy who had picked up 
an old dried branch for the sake of having a stick to carry. 

No white man could have understood the quick rattle 
of hard words which followed; but the man was the boy’s 
father, and they were both intensely interested. 

All the while the wounded father limped onward. Fast 
walking was impossible, however, and at last he consented 
to sit down, while his son and heir (heir to all the sticks he 
owned) once more pushed forward, alone, to tell his story to 
the other blackfellows—and a very proud boy was he. 

They, at least, would soon have news concerning other 
people, and perhaps they would know what to do with it ; 
but the four white fellows in Sir Frederick’s camp grew 
more and more troubled over the sad fact that they had no 
news whatever. 

They sat around and rested for a while after dinner, and 
let their horses crop the grassj but at last Bob McCracken 
sprang to his feet, exclaiming loudly, “ I can’t stay here! 
Call the dogs, and we will go out for another hunt after Sir 
Frederick and the leddies.” 


136 


THE WHITE CAVE 


Every man of them shouted a ready assent, and they 
called the dogs. “ Yip, Yip! Pomp! Caesar!” They called 
and called, hut there was no response. They searched all 
around the camp, hut not a dog was to he found, and the 
four men stood still at last, and looked at one another. 

“I ’ve heard of such things,” groaned Marsh. “The 
hlackfellows have stolen ’em ! ” 

“ Nonsense! ” exclaimed Boh. “ It’s that dog Yip. He ’s 
scented something, and he’s led off the two hounds to hunt 
it up. He ’ll get them all lost in the woods — and what ’ll 
Sir Frederick say to that ? ” 

“I don’t know,” said Brand. “He set great store hy 
those dogs. It ’s no fault of ours, anyhow.” 

Yip and the hounds had indeed seemed to hold a confer¬ 
ence after eating dinner. They had then gone to the river 
and lapped water. They had listened to the talk of the four 
men, and they had whined and yawned, and Yip had barked 
onc % e or twice. Then he had worried hither and thither in 
the outskirts of the camp for some minutes, and had given 
a small, suppressed yelp. The hounds came to him at 
once, and when he trotted off into the woods, they fol¬ 
lowed him. 


CHAPTER XI 


A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 

HE six land-pirates had not failed to 
bring hooks and lines with them into 
the woods. Rods were easily cut among 
the bushes, and grubs served for bait. 
There is sometimes good fun in fish¬ 
ing, but these fishermen found no fun in 
their fishing. They had changed their camp from the old 
place by the stump, and no blackfellows had tried to 
hinder them. Now, however, the fish did not bite well; 
for it was the wrong time of day, and the prospect of food 
was poor. Besides, every fisherman felt like now and then 
turning his head, as if to see whether anybody were com¬ 
ing. It was not long before one of them laid down his 
rod and line, and arose, picking up his rifle. 

“ Boys,” he said, “ I don’t lay claim to being a fisherman. 
There’d better be one man on guard. I ’ll patrol.” 

“ Boys,” added another, u he’s right. These are only 
small fish. You four go on a-fishin’. There ought to be 
two men on guard. It’s a dangerous neighborhood.” 

137 












138 


THE WHITE CAVE 


He would have thought so, indeed, if he could have 
seen a small, black, very bushy head which was just then 
pushing through some underbrush to look at him and 
his comrades. Once more the black boy had discovered 
something new. 

His elders had been after Ka-kak-kia and his party, 
while he had been discovering the baronet, the ladies, and 
a whole excursion party, and now he had found a fishing- 
party. He even wasted much time in staring at it, so that 
his lame father ere long had almost caught up with him. 
He saw a few small fish caught. He saw the two pa¬ 
trols walking up and down, each carrying a rifle over his 
shoulder in a half-military way. He was watching one of 
them when a sort of shadow flitted by him. It went past, 
and it went up, in a whizzing whirl, and then it came 
pouncing down. He heard a peculiar low cry behind him, 
and he instantly began to creep away. 

As for the patrol, a boomerang had struck him, and he 
fell to the earth, while his rifle went off with a loud report. 

The other patrol turned and fired wildly into the bushes, 
shouting: 

“ Blackfellows ! ” 

u Bill ? s killed!” exclaimed Jim. 

“ No, I hn not,” growled the fallen man, as he sat up and 
rubbed his shoulder j “ but the lock of my rifle’s broken. 
That thing hits hard.” 

The boomerang itself lay upon the ground, broken in 
two. But that the rifle served as a shield, the man Bill 


A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 


139 


would have been severely injured; and the whole party 
had received a dreadful warning. 

“Boys,” said Jim, “there ’s bad luck for us in these ’ere 
woods. Who’d have looked for blackfellows round here ? 
We must get the nuggets, and then we must clear out of 
this, or we ’ll all be speared.” 

No more boomerangs were thrown. The men were well 
acquainted with the wild men of those woods. They knew 
that a single boomerang, hurled in silence, with nothing 
following it, stood for the presence of one lurking black- 
fellow, who might have gone off after others, or who might 
not be heard of again. They had been through somewhat 
similar experiences before, and they had risked such things 
when they set out in chase of the man Beard. It was plain 
that they had lived lives of recklessness. 

As for the black boy and his lame father, they were now 
creeping through the woods together, as if it took two to 
carry so much news and tidings so important. 

Helen Gordon stood upon the bank of the river, and 
wondered whether to go up or down. 

“Seems to me I must be below Uncle Fred’s camp,” she 
said to herself j “ and it’s dreadfully rocky the other way. 
I’d have to go out into the woods and go around, and I 
might miss finding the river again. How tired and hungry 
I am! Nap is tired, too. What shall I do ? ” 

The words were hardly out of her lips before there came 
a kind of answer. She had never before heard such music ! 


140 


THE WHITE CAVE 


Yip! Yip! Yip! came the clear, glad, joyous melody of 
one voice. 

Yelp! Yelp! Yelp! was the reply of two other deeper 
voices. All three of them in chorus had hut one interpre¬ 
tation : 

“ There she is! There’s Helen ! ” 

In another moment the dogs were fawning about her, 
and she was trying to pet them all at once, calling them all 
the good names she could think of. 

Then they went to the water’s edge, lapped freely, and 
came back to lie down and pant j for they had been run¬ 
ning long and hard, and were tired. 

“ I’m so glad! ” exclaimed Helen. “ Now I know I can 
find my way back to the camp. I’m afraid Aunt Maude 
and Uncle Fred will be worried about me.” She never 
suspected that they, too, were lost. 

It was just as well that the bushy cover where Aunt 
Maude was at that moment crouching had but one horse 
and one woman to hide. Two horses might have neighed 
to each other, or two women might have uttered exclama¬ 
tions. As it was, Lady Parry watched in silence a very 
lame blackfellow and a very active, urgent black boy who 
was hurrying him forward. The man carried a shield, 
boomerangs, and sticks, but the boy had only one poor, 
crooked stick, of no account. 

She trembled, but even her horse nipped the grass 
in silence, and the black news-carriers were too much 
absorbed in their errand to notice her. 


THEN CAME THE REPORT OF A GUN 


% 



































* 
























































A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 


143 


“ They ? re gone! ” she murmured at last. “ But what am 
I to do ? And where is my son ? ” 

She rose and stood erect in a slight opening between 
two luxuriant bushes. She had deemed herself safe, for the 
lame blackfellow and his son had been gone for several 
minutes. Her intense feeling had obtained the mastery 
and she had spoken aloud, and as she rose she saw before 
her, not fifty yards away, one of the most awful figures that 
could be imagined. Tall, black, ferocious, terrific without 
any addition to his natural features, but now hideous with 
all the white skeleton-marks of his corroboree paint, a 
black warrior stood in an open space, balancing a long 
spear with his throw-stick, preparing for a deadly cast. 

How that slender, serpent-like spear quivered as the 
savage poised it and shouted his exultant war-cry! How 
the harsh, discordant sound did grate and thrill upon her 
ears! But it was instantly followed by the most welcome 
sound in all the world. 

“ Mother ! v was the call she heard from the thicket near 
by, and then came the double report of a gun, one barrel 
following the other quickly. 

The spear dropped, and a long, dark form lay prone 
upon the grass; but neither Lady Maude nor Hugh saw it 
fall, or, for one long moment, thought of it. 

“ Mother! ” 
u Hugh! n 

“ Hide, Mother! Hide! Quick! There are more of 
them! ” 


144 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ I know there are, Hugh! I ’ve seen some of them. Get 
down! ” 

Down they crept behind the bushes, and rapid whispers, 
back and forth, told all the story that each had to tell. 

Lady Maude had found Hugh, and it seemed to her that 
her troubles were nearly over. Hugh had found his 
mother, and it did not at once occur to him to doubt his 
ability to conduct her directly to his father’s camp. The 
meeting was so unexpected that for some minutes neither 
thought of the black corroboree dancer. 

“ He’s gone, Hugh,” said his mother; “ but I’m afraid 
there are others.” 

“ I don’t know, Mother,” said Hugh. u I had to shoot 
quickly, or that savage would have killed you. I must put 
in fresh cartridges.” 

Lady Maude had little idea of the situation except that 
she felt safer. As for the cave and the other strange 
things Hugh had described, he might almost as well have 
repeated a page out of “ Robinson Crusoe.” It all sounded 
like so much fiction. 

The report of a gun can be heard only a short distance 
through dense foliage. If those woods had been bare and 
desolate, as in wintry July weather, the report of Hugh’s 
gun might have been heard by other ears; but as it was, it 
gave no warning. 

The six land-pirates had fried and eaten some small fish. 
They believed themselves in danger only from blackfellows, 


A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 


145 


but they were not entirely correct. When the wounded 
blackfellow’s boomerang fell upon Bill’s rifle-lock and 
knocked him down, there was a low exclamation from a 
man concealed in a tuft of weeds on the crest of a ledge 
below the camp. 

“Ugh!” he said. “That was well thrown. I hope it 
spoiled his rifle. They ’ll have trouble enough now. I 
can go back to the cave and look after those boys.” 

He must have been listening and getting information, for 
he seemed to know that his enemies had lost their provi¬ 
sions, but were still determined to follow and plunder him. 

“ They ’ll have a good time doing it now,” he said, as he 
crept away. “Take it all in all, this is getting to be 
about the most tangled-up situation I ever saw. I wish 
the black and white savages would eat each other up, 
like the Kilkenny cats. My life is n’t worth much, but I 
must see that those boys don’t get hurt. No matter what 
becomes of me, I must save the others! ” 

He was on his feet now, and was walking rapidly home¬ 
ward. 

“Who’s that!” 

He stood still as he uttered this exclamation, but he 
did not raise his rifle. He was looking forward, and he 
seemed under sudden and great excitement. 

Right before him, at a little distance, under a tree stood 
a very fine horse, cropping the grass. Against the shoul¬ 
der and saddle of that horse leaned a large well-dressed 
man with his head bowed upon his folded arms. 

13 


146 


THE WHITE CAVE 


11 Look out! ” shouted Beard, and he sprang forward. 

There had been another man very near. He had a club 
in one hand, and he was stepping lightly, stealthily for¬ 
ward. He was bony, muscular, and as black as ink. His 
face gleamed with savage triumph until he heard the 
fierce, angry shout with which Beard bounded upon him. 

“ Ka-kak-kia! ” yelled the savage in defiance, and Beard 
himself just then shouted the same name. But it was too 
much for savage temper to be interrupted in that way, and 
Ka-kak-kia struck at Beard with the waddy he had been 
about to throw at the man by the horse. 

The blow was parried skilfully, but it was not returned; 
and Beard let fall the rifle he had parried with, and gripped 
Ka-kak-kia by the arms. The man by the horse had raised 
his head, as if he were waking from a dream. Now he had 
turned and was staring at them as if stunned. 

Ka-kak-kia hardly ceased for an instant to pour forth 
angry words, and he was answered as angrily by the cave¬ 
man. Meanwhile there was a wrestling-match of a very 
desperate sort, and an ordinary white man might have had 
the worst of it. 

a What am I about ? ” suddenly exclaimed the man by the 
horse. “Don’t give in! I ’ll knock down that black- 
fellow ! ” 

“ No, Sir Frederick,” gasped Beard. “ Don’t strike him. 
He ’s a friend—of mine. I must throw him—without 
help — or he’d lose his respect for me! ” 


A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 


147 


“ Humph ! ” exclaimed Sir Frederick. “ But what if he 
throws you f ” 

“ He can’t,” said Beard. “ But—if he does—you must 
disable him at once ! There,—he ’s yielding,—there ! ” 

It was a terrible grapple, but Ka-kak-kia had met his 
master. 

Strain, tug, struggle as he would, the steady, resistless 
strength of Beard bent him over, threw him upon the 
grass, and then held him quiet and harmless, while he 
glared furiously at the victor. 

“I must hold him until he gives up, Sir Frederick. 
Hand me that waddy.” 

The baronet obeyed as if he had been commanded by a 
superior officer; but he could only guess at the meaning of 
the native words which followed between Beard and the 
savage. 

“He has promised to be quiet,” said Beard at last, 
releasing him. 

Ka-kak-kia arose somewhat sullenly. 

“I told him,” continued Beard, “that the woods were 
full of his tribe’s enemies, that he and his people might all 
be speared, and that they were foolish to try to fight white 
fellows at the same time.” 

“ Will he keep his promise ? ” asked Sir Frederick. “ Is 
there any good in him ? ” 

“Not a particle,” said Beard. “He has a queer idea that 
he can’t kill me, that’s all. You know very well that they 


148 


THE WHITE CAVE 


never keep a promise. Jnst now he is cowed, and he w'ill 
be quiet for fear of your rifle and mine.” 

“ Will you let him go ? ” asked Sir Frederick, doubtfully. 
“ Is it safe ? ” 

“ Of course it is n’t safe,” replied Beard; “but then what 
is a fellow to do ? They are men, after all, and I don’t like 
the idea of needlessly killing them.” 

The baronet expressed his agreement with this sentiment, 
and then asked, “ But who are you ? ” 

“You may call me Beard. How did you happen to be 
away off here, alone?” said the cave-man, adding, as he 
turned to the savage, “ Ka-kak-kia, go! ” He added some 
words in the native tongue, and the wild man took his 
waddy and sprang away. 

The answer made by Sir Frederick was given steadily, 
but in a voice full of suppressed pain. He told about his 
camp, and his missing party, and the lost boys, the cause 
of his losing himself that day. Beard listened, now and 
then nodding his head, and at last remarked: 

“You are not lost, Sir Frederick. I could guide you to 
your camp by a bee-line, if it were safe. But we must get 
there as cautiously as we can manage it. Ned and Hugh 
are all right. They are at my house.” 

“ Good! ” said the excited baronet. “ My son and his 
friend at your house? Now, if I knew where to find my 
wife and niece! ” 

“We shall find them,” said Beard. “The worst of it is 
that there are two parties of blackfellows prowling around, 


A GREAT WRESTLING-MATCH 


149 


and one lot of out-and-out bushrangers. We must move 
at once, or we may be speared where we stand.” 

“ I ’ll lead my horse. He is about used up,” said Sir 
Frederick. “I owe you my life, Beard—and the boys’ 
lives —” 

“ Never mind that,” interrupted Beard, somewhat grimly. 
“We will hide your saddle and bridle in a safe place, and 
we will leave your horse where we can find him. I think it 
won’t be safe, just now, to go into my house by the front 
door. We can get in by the side door, though, I’m pretty 
sure, and I can give you something to eat and drink.” 

“ Is Hugh there ? ” asked the baronet. 

“I left him there with Ned,” replied Beard. “If they 
have gone out, they will soon get back again. We were in¬ 
tending to go to your camp to-night, if the way should be 
clear.” 

“ But my wife and my niece. Do you know anything of 
them ? ” 

“They may be at the camp, for all you know,” said 
Beard; “ or we may meet them on the way. You were lost 
not far from one another. Come, we must hurry! ” 


CHAPTER XII 


THE OTHER DOOR OF THE CAVE 



HEN Ned Wentworth parted from Hugh 
Parry under the great tree at the front 
door of Beard’s house, he set out with a 
purpose of his own. 

“If I understood that man/’ he re¬ 
marked aloud, “after the river leaves 
the waterfall it goes around the mountain, or through a 
cleft in it. If that’s so, I can find it again. If I do find it, 
Hugh and I could make our own way along the bank, 
whether Beard comes with us or not. He does n’t wish to 
come, or to meet anybody. I can see that.” 

On he went, therefore, choosing ground that was not too 
rough and broken to travel over, but keeping as near as he 
could to the mountain. 

“ I ’ll find the river,” he said again, “ unless the blackfel- 
lows find me.” 

He forgot that time was passing, and that the day could 
not last much longer. The sun was sinking steadily, and 
he was getting tired. The forest was giving place to a 
short, stubby growth upon sandy soil. 











THE OTHER DOOR OF THE CAVE 


151 


“ I can find my way back around the mountain,” be said 
at last; “but I wish I could get to the river for a good 
drink of water. How long that shadow is!” 

He noticed the length of it because it was the shadow of 
a great rock that stood some distance away. 

“As late as that?” he exclaimed. “Then I can’t get 
back to the cave to-night. I must push along and find the 
river. It can’t hurt me to spend a night in the woods. I 
can light a fire to keep oft dingoes. It will worry Hugh if 
I don’t come, though.” 

Hugh was not thinking of Ned just then, but he and his 
mother were also thinking of the nearness of sunset, for 
it was getting shadowy in the dense forest. 

“ Mother,” said Hugh, “I wish I could get some water for 
you. We must go toward Beard’s cave. I can find the 
way. We ’re as safe in one spot as in another.” 

“I ’d like to get away from this, Hugh,” she said; 
“ though I feel safer, now you are with me.” 

They went forward slowly and cautiously, Hugh leading 
the horse. The woods grew more and more dim and 
shadowy. 

The six men by the waterfall had gone out, three at a 
time, and had looked in several directions for traces of the 
nugget-owner whom they had come there to find; but they 
had gathered again, to tell one another they were sure of 
being nearer to him, and that they believed they would 
have better luck on the morrow. 


152 


THE WHITE CAVE 


If Ka-kak-kia’s band of blackfellows were not tired, they 
must bave been made of iron, for they had scouted all day 
long. They had managed with such cleverness that they had 
not seen, or been seen by, any of their black enemies. The 
same thing was true of these, for the lame man and his 
brilliant son made their report concerning white fellows 
only, and no others were more than suspected of being 
close at hand. 

Ka-kak-kia’s followers had a surprise all their own, when 
they gathered to hear their chiefs report of his meeting 
with his mysterious “friend,” whom they all knew, and 
who had thrown him down and kept him from killing a 
perfect prize of a big white fellow standing beside a horse. 
They all agreed with Ka-kak-kia that both of those white 
fellows were to be again attacked as soon as there was a 
chance. They also all agreed that it was not a good night 
for going to sleep. The time could much better be expended 
in watching for any camp-fire that might be kindled by 
reckless white fellows. 

Their black enemies were of the same opinion, and it 
was strengthened a little before sunset. One of their 
number was missing, and they had sent up all manner of 
sounds to tell him where they were. The black boy, also, 
had been sent back along his own trail, to hoot like an owl 
and call the wanderer. He went and he hooted. He even 
made blunders, uttering animal cries that never sounded 
in the bush at night, and that roused the suspicions of 
Ka-kak-kia’s party. His hooting was all in vain, and he 


THE OTHER DOOR OF THE CAVE 


153 


hunted on until he almost stumbled over something which 
made him drop flat and listen. He lay still for a minute, 
but nobody seemed to be near him. He lifted his head and 
put out his hand. There was no doubt but that the warrior 
he had stumbled over had been killed by the bullets of 
some white fellow. The black boy knew his duty. He took 
every stick belonging to the slain man. Luckily, he had 
been an uncommonly well-supplied person. His shield was 
very good ; his waddy-club and stone tomahawk were 
works of art; his three boomerangs had been made in the v* 
best manner. So had both of the two long spears, and 
the throw-stick, and a climber. He had been a rich man; 
and when the black boy set out to carry back his latest 
piece of news, he was armed like a chief. It made him 
walk proudly, and he kept his eyes busy, in a half hope of 
seeing something or somebody to throw at,—he had so 
very much already to throw. He knew about the fight the 
day before with Ka-kak-kia and his followers, and he was 
not at all sure that he might not fall in with some of them 
on his way to rejoin his own people. He felt that he was 
having a set of remarkable adventures, and that he was in 
an unsafe piece of country. 

Others also felt unsafe, and the men at Sir Frederick 
Parry’s camp decided to sleep only two at a time. They 
mourned the absence of watchful Yip more than they did 
that of the other dogs, and they mentioned him more 
frequently than even the baronet. 

As for Sir Frederick and his new acquaintance, they 


154 


THE WHITE CAVE 


were getting better and better acquainted as they went 
along. It was easier for Beard to avoid telling much 
about himself because Sir Frederick had so many other 
things upon his mind. 

They scouted carefully through the woods, with then- 
rifles held ready for sudden use, but they did not meet 
anybody, black or white, before they came to the edge 
of a broken, rocky slope, where Beard remarked: 

“We must leave your horse here. We can find him 
when we come out.” 

“We will picket him,” said the baronet. 

That was done with a long piece of bark rope, and then 
Beard said: 

“Now for some dinner!” 

“Dinner!” replied Sir Frederick. “I ’d give more for 
some water just now than for anything else. How far 
are we from the river ? ” 

“ It runs around this mountain on the other side,” said 
Beard. “ I can bring that horse enough water to keep him 
alive ; but first I must care for you.” 

They were walking rapidly up the slope, and right 
before them was a mass of broken crags, that looked like 
a good hiding-place. 

“Hullo!” exclaimed the baronet, “is this your house?” 

“It used to be,” said Beard; “but it is n’t safe enough 
now. The blackfellows found it out, and I’m afraid they 
told other people where it was. I had to give it up.” 

It looked as if the entrance of a gap among the crags 


THE OTHER DOOR OF THE CAVE 


155 


had been rudely roofed over with branches and bark, mak¬ 
ing a shelter from the weather $ but there were no signs of 
any door. 

Beard led the way in, and right through, for the gap 
continued beyond the roofed place. Sir Frederick fol¬ 
lowed him silently, even after the gap grew dim and 
began to look anything but safe. 

“ Sir Frederick,” said Beard, “ have you any matches ¥ 
I must light a torch.” 

A box of wax-lights was held out to him, and a long 
pine-knot which Beard had picked up was set on fire 
before he again led the way. 

They were in a crooked crack between two vast masses 
of limestone that met overhead. There was, however, no 
difficulty at all in following it, until they came to a point 
where Beard paused and exclaimed: 

“ Now, 1’m glad you are a man of firm nerves and good 
muscles! ” 

“ What ’s that souhd ¥ ” asked the baronet. 

“Nothing but water,” said Beard. “I ’ll give you some 
quickly. Hold the torch while I go down.” 

Sir Frederick took the flaring torch, and held it far out, 
to see what Beard was doing. 

“Here is a rope-ladder,” said Beard$ “it ’s strong 
enough, but it’s a little clumsy, and you must hold tight. 
I’m all right. There, hand me the torch.” 

Down he went like a man who knew the way, and Sir 
Frederick’s good nerves did not prevent him from shudder- 


156 


THE WHITE CAVE 


ing when he saw how long that swinging ladder was. The 
torch stopped going down, and Beard shouted: 

“Get a good hold to start with! Come on! It won’t 
break.” 

Sir Frederick Parry was a brave man, and he w T as very 
thirsty. Thus far he had suffered no harm, although his 
clothes were somewhat dusty, and he had every reason for 
trusting the man who had saved his life. Still he felt 
uneasy when he gripped that ladder of bark rope and 
began to scramble down into the unknown gloom and dark¬ 
ness all around that side door of Beard’s house. 

“ There! ” he exclaimed as soon as his feet reached 
solid rock. “It ’s a very remarkable place. Is it much 
further ? ” 

“ Why, no,” said Beard, lifting the torch. “ Here we are 
only a hundred feet or so from the passage that leads 
to my ‘front door.’ I did n’t have a chance to let the 
boys know about this entrance, but I told them it was 
here. We might have come in the other way, our¬ 
selves ; but it seemed to me that this was safer, after we 
met Ka-kak-kia.” 

Sir Frederick followed Beard out through a broken 
group of stalactites and stalagmites, and then Beard said: 

“ There’s the fireplace, and the fire is still smoldering. 
The boys have gone out to scout around. I half expected 
that they would, but I cautioned them not to go too far. 
See, Sir Frederick, here’s the place where they must have 
cooked their dinner.” 


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THE OTHER DOOR OF THE CAVE 


159 


“ Why, they may not get back to-night. They may lose 
their way again,” exclaimed the baronet. 

“I don’t think so,” replied Beard, as he heaped more 
wood on the fire. “I gave them careful instructions. 
I ’ll go for water. What do you think of my house?” 

“ It is indeed a wonderful place,” replied Sir Frederick, 
warmly. 

Beard went away with his torch in one hand and his 
tin kettle in the other, and the baronet continued: “I 
have heard there were a great many caves in this geo¬ 
logical formation. It is really not at all remarkable. The 
wonder of it is that I am here, and that Hugh and Ned 
have been here. Oh, how thirsty I am ! ” 

That difficulty was removed as soon as the tin kettle 
came back from its dip into the chasm, and then Beard 
said: 

“ There ’s all the meat you need to broil. Go ahead. 
Cook and eat as comfortably as you please, but I must 
not waste any time here. I must know what’s going on 
in the woods. Besides, I think I can get you some coffee 
for breakfast.” 

“ All right,” said the baronet. “I can broil my own 
dinner. I hope the boys will return while yob ? re gone.” 

“Likely as not they may,” said Beard. “I shall not 
be gone long”; and before anything else could be said 
he had vanished. 

“I declare,” remarked Sir Frederick to himself/“he 
has gone, and he forgot to tell me how I’m to get out of 


160 


THE WHITE CAVE 


this place. I ’m corked up like a fly in a bottle. What 
if he should not come back! I’m in a very remarkable 
situation. Still, I must eat something, and I ’ll wait for 
Hugh or my red-bearded friend, whoever he may be. 
He’s a great puzzle to me. That was a grand wrestling- 
match between him and the blackfellow! He must be 
made of steel and whip-cord!’ 7 

So the baronet sat by the fire, broiled kangaroo meat, 
and made an excellent meal. 

Poor Helen Gordon, tired and hungry, there by the 
river-bank, could not make up her mind to lie down as 
the darkness came on. 

“I dare not sleep,” she said; “but I can sit down and 
lean my back against a tree.” 

She did so, and the deerhounds came and stretched them¬ 
selves upon the ground beside her, and Yip put his head 
into her lap and whined, and then whirled and sat alertly 
in front, looking keenly out into the darkness, as if to say: 
“ I shall sit up and keep watch.” 

She was, at all events, better guarded than were Hugh 
and his mother, now picking their slow way, with greater 
and greater difficulty, along through the deepening dark¬ 
ness. That is, it was very dark except in open glades where 
the moonlight poured in: and yet they were almost afraid 
of such helps, because in those places other eyes might see 
them. 


CHAPTER XIII 


NEAR THE CAVE 

UGH and his mother knew that other 
eyes must he near them. Hugh had 
already told his mother all that had hap¬ 
pened to him and Ned Wentworth since 
they had left the picnic party to hunt; 
but she was too thirsty and tired and 
excited to say much in reply. She was afraid to have him 
talk now, except in whispers; but he insisted that he knew 
where they were, and that they were getting nearer the 
u front door ” of the cave-man ? s hidden house. 

“I cannot walk any farther, Hugh,” she suddenly ex¬ 
claimed. “ I am faint.” 

There was an answer, but it did not come from him. 
“Silence!” was the warning from a shadow near them. 
“Down, both of you! Let them go by!” 

Down sank Lady Parry and her son, shivering with 
surprise and fear, while there was a rustling sound near. 

“ Hugh,” whispered the voice, “ I ? ve found your father. 
I Ve brought him into the cave. You and your mother 

161 









162 


THE WHITE CAVE 


must wait just where you are. Three of those robbers 
have scouted this way. They ’re going back to their camp 
soon, and when the coast is clear you can go right in. 
Wait till you hear me ‘coo-ee-e’ before you move. I ’ll 
draw them off for you.” 

“Mother,” whispered Hugh, “it’s Beard. Keep still!”— 
and he added to the cave-man in the dark, “All right; 
we ’ll wait.” 

A few minutes later, they heard the trampling of feet, 
and the sound of rough, low voices, passing very near 
them. She put an arm around Hugh, and he raised his 
gun and cocked it with a thrill of courage. 

That was the last scout made that night by the white 
robbers; but the blackfellows were still stirring, and the 
little black boy had yet another thing happen to him. 
He had almost found his people, or believed that he had, 
and indeed several of them crept close to him in the 
gloom. He believed it until two of them caught him by 
the arms, and a harsh voice rasped out: “ Ka-kak-kia! ” 

He was a captive once more, and in worse hands than 
before. He was likely to lose all his sticks again, and his 
life too. He knew it, but he behaved with stubborn pluck, 
and did not utter a sound. 

Ka-kak-kia did not intend to kill his prisoner, or to steal 
sticks from him. 

He told him to go and find his friends, and to say 
that the blackfellows must stop killing one another until 
after their fight with the white fellows, of all sorts, should 


NEAR THE CAVE 


163 


be finished. They must act, for a day or so, as if they 
were friends. 

It seemed an unheard-of proposal, but the black boy 
listened, and at the end of it they let go of him. He gath¬ 
ered all the sticks he had rescued, hugged them tightly, 
and darted forward, hardly more than half sure that he 
had not been killed. 

His next report was to his lame father, and then all the 
others of that party knew what had become of their slain 
comrade. When they heard the strange proposal made by 
Ka-kak-kia, they at once agreed to it; for short truces are 
a sort of custom among all their tribes. Then the woods 
heard cry after cry that must have been understood, for in 
a very short time the blackfellows of both parties were 
grouped together around a fire they had lighted. But not 
one of them had anything to cook by it, or was then likely 
to have, for all the food found or stolen in the robbers’ camp 
had been eaten. 

Helen Gordon was suddenly startled from the half nap 
into which she had fallen. She sprang to her feet with 
a frightened exclamation, and she breathed quickly for a 
moment as she strove to remember where she was. She 
thought of being brave, too, and drew her revolver out of 
its case 5 but it seemed to tremble so much as to be of 
no use. 

There was the river, gleaming in the moonlight. Behind 
her lay the dark, terrible forest, with its untold dangers. 


164 


THE WHITE CAVE 


At her side were the two faithful hounds, baying their 
angry warnings at something yet unseen. Helen's first 
thought was of the dingoes, but then she remembered the 
blackfellows. One of the dogs dashed forward, and Helen 
heard: 

“ Who could have expected to find you here! Where 7 s 
the camp ? ” 

The other dogs followed the first, and Ned Wentworth 
found himself nearly upset by them. 

“ Oh, Ned!” cried Helen, half sobbing, as she sprang 
toward him from the foot of the tree. 

“Poor Helen!” exclaimed Ned. “Why, where are all 
the rest ?” 

In a few moments she explained. 

“We ’ll start right away,” said Ned. “We can get back 
to the cave by moonlight. There 7 s no more danger in 
trying it than there is in staying here. You mount, and 
I ’ll lead the horse. Come!” 

He felt as if he were a knight-errant guarding a princess 
from giants and dragons. For her part, Helen felt almost 
cheerful. 

“Don’t talk, Helen,” said Ned; “we must make no more 
noise than we can help.” 

Still, they did exchange a few whispered words as they 
went along. 

After Beard left Lady Parry and Hugh, he moved away 
rapidly, seeming to be laboring under strong excitement or 


NED FELT AS IF HE WERE A KNIGHT-ERRANT GUARDING A PRINCESS. 

















NEAR THE CAVE 


167 


even suffering. It was only a minute or two, however, 
before they heard a clear, prolonged u Coo-ee-e! Coo-ee-e! ” 
at some distance. 

“ There,” said Hugh. “ That must be Beard. It means 
that we can go right along. Come, Mother, we can get to 
the cave. Father is safe somewhere. So is Helen. Come! 
It is not so very far.” 

“ Coo-ee-e ! ” sounded again, a little more distant. 

“Don’t you see, Mother?” said Hugh j “Beard is draw¬ 
ing the robbers off.” 

The three robber-scouts followed the coo-ee-e rapidly, for 
several minutes, because it was leading them toward their 
own camp. Then one of them said : 

“Jim, it ’s no use! I ’m fagged out. We can’t catch 
anything in the dark. All I was hoping for was to sur¬ 
prise him by a camp-fire or in a shanty.” 

So they gave up the search; but that coo-ee-e had been 
heard by the blackfellows also, and had brought them all 
to their feet except Ka-kak-kia. He had a very good reason 
for not heeding it. 

“ Friend,” he said; and then he explained to the rest that 
he knew the voice very well. “ Not kill him right away,” 
he said j and all answered, as with one voice, in their own 
tongue: 

“ That ’s the white fellow who can’t be killed. He won’t 
die.” 

Somehow or other, they had all acquired that notion 
concerning the cave-man. 


168 


THE WHITE CAVE 


Hugh helped his mother to mount her horse. The noble 
animal was more thirsty than weary, and plodded along, 
keeping his head over Hugh’s shoulder, as if afraid of 
something, he knew not what. Lady Parry was regaining 
her courage. She had found her son, and she was now 
going to find her husband. 

Her husband, sitting there in the cave, began to feel al¬ 
most as if he were no better off than before. He was no 
longer hungry or thirsty. He was too strong a man to 
be tired, and he was becoming restless. 

“ I saw him go out in that direction,” he remarked, 
at last. “ Maybe I could find that front door without 
any help. At all events I can’t be cooped up here any 
longer.” 

He kindled a torch, and tried to find Beard’s way out. 
He went only a step at a time, studying the walls and the 
pillars, and as he walked, he talked to himself: 

“Here are two saddles,” he said, “and bridles. He 
seems to have all sorts of things—firearms and tools. I 
wonder who he is, and what he is doing here ? An escaped 
convict, most likely. But, then, he did n’t wish to do me 
any harm, and he would n’t let me hurt the blackfellow. 
There’s certainly some good in him, and I must n’t forget 
that he saved Hugh’s life, and Ned’s life, and my own. 
Hullo! Here’s a sort of opening. I ’ll explore it. Ah— 
I have put out my torch ! ” 

He had bumped his head, and put out his torch against 
the low, sloping roof of rock above him. 


NEAR THE CAVE 


169 


“ It ’s a pokerisli place to creep about in,” he went on. 
“What’s that!” 

He was suddenly aware that there was somebody else 
in that narrow passage. He spoke no more aloud, but his 
thoughts were busy. 

“ I hear breathing. Some one is surely creeping in. 
They have found the front door, that he said was so 
safely hidden. Shall I have to fight a blackfellow in 
here! It can’t be one of the boys. Either of the boys 
would have spoken. I ’d better get out my revolver!” 

Hugh at the same moment was making ready his re¬ 
volver. For Hugh and his mother had reached and found 
the front door, and they were creeping into the cave. 
The boy had also heard some one moving, for he was 
saying to himself: 

“It can’t be Ned or Beard ! ” 

“Hugh,” said his mother aloud, “I wish I could stand 
up. Can't you call out and let anybody in there know we 
are here! ” 

“ Hugh! Hurrah! ” And then, knowing her husband’s 
voice, Lady Parry exclaimed: 

“ Is that you, Frederick ? Quick, Hugh ! Move faster! 
You are not hurt, are you!” 

“No; wait—I ’ll relight the torch,” said Sir Frederick. 
“ If this is n’t the strangest meeting!.” 

Before long they were standing in front of the fire, and 
Hugh was heaping it with dry branches from Beard's 
wood-pile. 

15 


170 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Has n’t he a beautiful house, Mother?” Hugh asked, 
as the brilliant blaze lighted up the cave. “ I will go for 
some water, Father, while you see whether you can get 
mother somethin's; J;6 eat.” 

“ Hugh, take some water out to the horse, if you can,” 
said his mother. 

“ Of course I will! ” said Hugh, promptly. 

He picked up the tin kettle, a coil of bark rope, and 
a torch, and walked far into the cave. His mother’s eyes 
followed him for a moment, and then she turned and put 
her hands upon Sir Frederick’s shoulders, and looked 
anxiously into his face. 

“Fred,” she said, “what can have become of Helen? 
Do you know anything about her?” 

“ I hoped that both of you had found your way back to 
camp,” replied the baronet, gloomily. “I still hope that 
she did.” 

Hardly had he said the words when she heard the bark¬ 
ing of the dogs, and Ned and Helen entered the cave. 

Ned Wentworth led Nap through the forest and through 
the scrubby growth along the foot of the mountain. 
Helen was no longer thirsty, but she w T as so weary and 
faint that she could hardly keep the saddle. Ned him¬ 
self felt his weariness coming back again, but it was as 
nothing compared to his anxiety lest he should lose his 
way. He almost forgot his fear of the blackfellows in his 
dread of wandering. 


NEAR THE CAVE 


171 


" Here we are, Helen!” lie exclaimed at last. " I can see 
the tree. We can leave Nap here, but the danger is n’t 
quite over. Can you walk?” 

" I can, for a short distance,” said Helen, smiling bravely 
as he helped her down; " but—I am so tired! ” 

Off came the saddle and bridle to be hidden in the un¬ 
derbrush, and Nap was turned loose to feed, while Ned, 
with Helen leaning upon his arm, walked bravely on 
through what seemed to him their last danger. 

"It ’s over at last,” he exclaimed, as they reached the 
tree. "Now, Helen—” he drew a long breath of dismay 
at that moment, and exclaimed in a frightened tone: 

"Helen! I ’m afraid we are too late. The cave has 
been discovered! Somebody has gone in and left the 
front door open ! ” 

" But, Ned,” said Helen, " see the dogs.” For in a flash 
the dogs had scrambled into the entrance to the cave. 

"That ’s a good sign, I think,” said Ned. "I ’ll go 
ahead, anyhow, and you creep in after me. Do you dare 
to follow ? It’s dark ! ” 

" I ’ll come,” gasped Helen. " I can’t stay here.” 

Ned was already disappearing into the burrow. Helen 
felt fainter than before, but followed him upon her hands 
and knees. 

" The torch is gone,” she heard Ned mutter. " Well, we 
must go ahead. I ’ll be ready to shoot. See, there’s a 
light coming! Helen,” he added more loudly, "some¬ 
body ? s here. I hope it ’s Hugh! ” 


172 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Who ’s there!” shouted a deep, gruff, yet somewhat 
shaky voice. “ Speak quickly! ” 

“ Who is it!” added a woman’s voice. “ Is it you, Ned 
Wentworth ! ” 

“Aunt Maude and Uncle Fred ! Both right here in the 
cave-house ! ” exclaimed Helen. 

“ Helen Gordon and Ned! ” exclaimed Sir Frederick. 
“ Can it be possible ! ” 

Hugh had hurried with the kettle of water, and was 
back at the fireplace when the party met at the front 
door. He saw the dogs, too, and he called: 

“ Mother, has Ned found Helen!” 

“Hugh,” came back the voice of Sir Frederick, “they 
are all found! ” 

“We are safe,” remarked Lady Parry, thankfully; 
“but—I wish I knew how we are to get back to camp,— 
and to ‘the Grampians.”’ 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


ARGE caves are very likely to have 
branches. Beard’s cave, at a first glance, 
seemed to consist only of the vast hol¬ 
low which began at the fissure leading 
into it from under the great tree. The 
fact, however, that it had a side door 
proved that it was very much like other caves. 

So far as any of Beard’s present guests were aware, the 
space near the fireplace was the most comfortable room in 
his “ house.” If it contained no chairs, there were blocks 
of stone to sit upon. There was no other furniture, not 
so much as a dinner-table, as the guests remembered when 
the boy cooks announced that dinner was ready, as they 
shortly did. 

“I ’m sleepy, rather than hungry,” said Lady Parry; 
“ and I am tired enough to sleep, even on a stone floor.” 

“Sir Frederick,” came, at the moment, from among the 
group of pillars near the entrance, “will you please step 
this way for a moment. Ned—you come, too!” 

The voice was deep and clear. 

173 









174 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ That ? s Beard !” said Ned. “ I J m coming—” 

“ Come here, Beard,” said the baronet. 

“No,” he replied; “I ? ve another matter on my hands. 
I am glad yon ? re all safe.” 

Sir Frederick was a man accustomed to have his own 
way, but the flush that came to his face was quickly gone, 
and he arose and went to the cave-man. 

“ Beard,” he said, “ come in and speak to Lady Parry 
and my niece. They wish to thank you—” 

“ Not now! There is no time! ” said Beard, hastily. 
“ In among the stalagmites, yonder, you will find some 
grass-matting bags stuffed with moss. They will be better 
than the rock for the ladies to sleep on. Ned, get your gun 
and come with me.” 

“All right,” said Ned, and he went back for his gun, 
although even his tough young muscles had a strained 
feeling. 

“ Sir Frederick,” continued Beard, “ not one of you must 
venture out while I am gone. The woods are full of dan¬ 
gers. Hugh and Ned must bring me a kettle of water for 
the horses,—just to wet their mouths a little.” 

“We 7 11 stay here,” said the baronet, and he turned and 
repeated the warning to Hugh and Ned. 

Then he tried to ask Beard a number of questions, but 
he was altogether unable to obtain from the cave-man any 
information. So he went back to Lady Parry and Helen. 
The water was brought, and Ned followed his strange 
friend out into the open air. 


THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


175 


“I know where to find the horses,” said Beard. “ Just 
a little taste for each will do, till we get back. I sha’n’t 
be gone long.” 

Ned crouched in some underbrush while Beard disap¬ 
peared among the shadows. 

“ He shut the front door carefully enough,” said Ned to 
himself. “What can he be up to? I can stand it better 
than Hugh can. I ? m tougher, somehow. He *s about 
used up; but then he ? s stronger than I in pulling or 
lifting.” 

Ned had but a short time to wait, and he was almost 
surprised that nothing happened to him while he was 
waiting. He was getting so used to have queer things 
happen that he missed them if they did not come. 

“ The horses have been needing that water,” remarked 
Beard, when he came gliding back and put down his kettle. 
“ They ’re all right, and we can find them in the morning. 
Now, Ned, you and I must go and get some coffee for Lady 
Parry. We shall get another prize or two besides.” 

“ Coffee ?” exclaimed Ned. “ Where can we find coffee 
in those woods ? ” 

“ Come with me, and you will soon see,” said Beard. 

A strange thought entered Ned’s mind. He saw that 
Beard seemed much excited; he hardly appeared like the 
same man. His motions were nervous and quick, and he 
spoke rapidly. Could it be possible that the cave-man was 
losing his reason ? Perhaps he lived away out there because 
he was crazy, and could not live with other men. It was a 


176 


THE WHITE CAVE 


terrible thought, and Ned forgot his weariness while he 
watched his companion. 

“We ’ll get some coffee,” repeated Beard. “She ? s only 
a woman, and Helen ? s but a young girl. They need more 
care than men and boys. I hn glad they are in my house 5 
but they ? re not safe yet, by any means. I know all about 
them.” 

“ How do you know all about them ? ” asked Ned. 

“Lady Maude is a noble woman,” said Beard, without 
noticing the question. “I know about her; I knew a 
brother of hers, once.” 

“ Did yon ? ” said Ned, eagerly. “ What sort of a fellow 
was he“?” 

“A most unlucky fellow,” said Beard. “A great fool, 
too. So proud that he was hardly sound in his mind — hot- 
tempered and obstinate. He got into trouble at home and 
ran away. He had a stepfather who was not fair to him— 
or so he thought. Just a fool of a boy, that’s all. He ran 
away and got into bad company, and he was too green to 
know how bad it was. They were thieves and counter¬ 
feiters, and he had n’t been with them three days when 
they were caught and he was found with them. I was in 
the court-room when they were tried.” 

At that moment there was a rustle in the bushes near 
them, and Beard stopped short, and lowered his rifle from 
his shoulder. Ned did the same, but the rustling sound 
went away, a jump at a time, and the cave-man muttered: 
“ It was some animal.” 


THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


177 


“ You saw them tried t 77 said Ned. “ Was he convicted! 
Did he tell them who he was ? 77 

“ He was too proud for that/ 7 said Beard. “ He went by 
the name of Rogdon — just a twist of his own name. Yes, 
he was convicted and sentenced to transportation. 77 

“ And he was transported ? 77 said Ned. 

“ Yes, 77 said Beard ; “ he was sent out here, to Australia, 
and his pride was as great as ever. He got away into the 
bush among the bushrangers, and he could n 7 t get along— 
even with them. He seemed to make enemies wherever 
he went—in short, he was the greatest fool you ever 
heard of. 77 

“ I know, 7 ’ said Ned, as they walked rapidly along, keep¬ 
ing a sharp lookout, “ the bushrangers are about the worst 
thieves in all the world. 77 

“ That 7 s so, 77 said Beard; “they are all of that. They are 
sharp, too. They called Lady Parry’s brother Big Red, 
and whenever anything worse than common was done, 
they all laid it to him—to Big Red; and the colony gov¬ 
ernment offered heavy rewards for him, dead or alive. 77 

“What became of him? 77 asked Ned. 

“Oh, they believe he was lost in the woods somewhere, 77 
said Beard; “or else he 7 s over among the mountains, or in 
the gold-diggings, or living among the blackfellows where 
no white men will ever come. It 7 s years and years since 
they 7 ve heard of him. 77 

“ I guess they must have given him up long ago, 77 said 
Ned. 


178 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ I suppose they have/’ said Beard $ “ but he had an older 
brother that was heir to the family property, so it did not 
make so much difference.” 

“ He's in the army and he 's in India,” said Ned. “ Helen 
is his daughter. She has lost her mother, and Lady Parry 
is bringing her up.” 

“ She is a noble woman! ” exclaimed Beard. 

It had seemed to do him good to tell that story, and he 
was quieter now; but Ned had only a dim idea of the direc¬ 
tion in which they had walked. 

“Now, Ned,” said Beard, “we 're getting near the 
coffee-shop. We 've scouted around your old camp by 
the waterfall. The robbers are there. I 'm going to 
show you something new pretty soon — my coffee-shop.” 

“ Coffee-shop ? ” said Ned, and again it occurred to him 
that Beard must be going crazy. 

“ Here it is,” said Beard, about five minutes later. 

“Why, it 's another big tree!” exclaimed Ned. 

“ Only the stump of one,” said Beard, laying aside his 
rifle. “ I want you to stand right here. When I let down 
anything, you unhitch the rope it's tied to. It ’ll take me 
quite a while to climb that stump in the dark. The moon¬ 
shine can't get in here to help me.” 

Ned now, for the first time, noticed a coil of bark rope 
that the cave-man carried over his shoulders. 

“He is n't climbing the tree,” he next remarked; “he 
is walking away into the woods. I do believe that man's 
gone crazy. He's surely insane ! ” 


THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


179 


Beard seemed to know what he was about, however 5 for 
he went very straight to the tree he had first ascended 
by, when Ned was not there, and up he went into its 
branches. He crept cautiously along, grasping hard and 
making sure of his hold. From tree to tree, and up, up, 
up he went, as if he had been a human orang-outang or 
a gorilla. 

Ned watched with keen anxiety, standing there between 
the ashes of the old camp-fire and the foot of the stump. 
He was not looking up, but rather watching the gloom 
around him lest any enemy should steal in and take him 
by surprise. 

“ Hullo! ” he exclaimed, “ what ? s that ? ” 

He was severely startled, indeed, for something had 
swung against him with a blow that all but knocked him 
down. 

“ It is a saddle! ” he said. “ Beard has lowered it from 
the stump.” 

He felt better as he loosened the loop that held the sad¬ 
dle. There were a bridle and some other things with it. 
Up went the rope, as soon as it was loose, while Ned re¬ 
marked to himself: “ But that is n't coffee.” 

A few minutes later, as he gazed upward, he saw some¬ 
thing coming down which seemed to glimmer a little. It 
was lowered slowly and steadily until he could take hold 
of it. 

“It ? s a coffee-pot!” he exclaimed. “It ’s bigger than 
the one in our camp, and it is two thirds full of coffee! 71 


180 


THE WHITE CAVE 


There was really something startling in receiving a pot 
of coffee in that manner. 

Ned waited patiently, hut Beard had finished his errand 
at the top of the stump and was on his way down. He 
had quite a number of curious questions to answer, when 
he again came within Ned’s reach. 

It did not take him long to find a hiding-place for the 
saddle and other things, and then he and Ned and the 
coffee-pot set out for home. 

All was very quiet there. The sacks of moss had been 
found, and Lady Maude and Helen fell asleep upon them 
as if they had been their own beds. Sir Frederick and 
Hugh had only a small sack for their heads to rest upon, 
the other part of their bed being rock. Both of them 
tried to keep their eyes open, but it was of no use, and 
even Yip and the hounds went to sleep. The cave was 
really the safest sleeping-place in all that wilderness. It 
was silent, except for the dull roar of the torrent. 

“Now, Ned,” said Beard, as they plodded along with the 
coffee-pot, “ we are to do a little work that is not without 
danger. We must get a look at the fellows who are trying 
to find us. You keep close to me, and be silent! ” 

Cautiously, stealthily, they went forward, and Ned was 
trembling with excitement and expectation. 

“There!” whispered Beard. “They have built a fire. 
Look sharp now!” 

Ned could at first hardly discover the faint glow which 





THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


183 


his companion had seen ; but it grew brighter as they crept 
nearer, and before long Beard whispered: 

“ Those are the blackfellows. Both bands are together 
now ; Ka-kak-kia’s band and the other have united. That 
means just so much greater danger for us. If they were 
fighting each other, we could escape more easily. 1’m glad 
to know they ’re camped, though, and are not out after us. 
Come, Ned; it won’t do to scout any nearer a camp of 
blackfellows. Their ears are quicker than a dog’s. We 
must now take a look at the land-pirates.” 

Ned nodded, without a word, and the cave-man went 
forward again as if he almost knew the paths of that forest 
in the dark. He did not have to travel far before he again 
whispered, “There!” and the glow of another fire began to 
blend faintly with the gloom of the forest. 

“We can venture nearer to them than to blackfellows,” 
said Beard, “ but we must n’t actually risk anything.” 

“We must get safe back to the cave with our coffee/’ 
replied Ned. 

Beard seemed entirely satisfied with what could be seen 
from under a bush a hundred yards away from the camp. 
Three of his enemies were lying down, asleep. Two were 
sitting up, rifle in lap. One was walking around as a sort 
of patrol. Beyond the glow of their camp-fire could be 
dimly seen the glitter of the thundering waterfall. It was 
a sight well worth coming to see. When they were a little 
further away, Beard whispered to Ned: 


184 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“They mean to come after us — or after me — in the 
morning; but I don’t believe one of them will get back 
to the gold-diggings. The blackfellows’ camp-fire is too 
near this one. No/’ he continued. “ They won’t do any 
more mining,— or robbing.” 

Ned thought of the other camp-fire, with the blackfel¬ 
lows around it, but it all seemed much like a dream. 

“ Come along, Ned,” whispered his friend. “ I can’t quite 
understand why there is n’t anything stirring, here or 
there. Hist! ” 

Ned looked toward the land-pirates’ camp. 

The men on guard, looking out into the dark, could not 
have seen anything, but a tall, naked human figure passed 
swiftly, glidingly along, between Beard and Ned and the 
firelight. He held in his hand a long spear, and he raised 
it and shook it threateningly. 

“He is going to spear one of them!” whispered Ned, 
excitedly. 

“ No, he is not,” replied Beard. “ He is only threatening 
because he feels like it. They never throw a spear with 
the bare hand; they pitch them with a throw-stick.” 

The blackfellow glided along into the darkness, and the 
men he had threatened had no idea that he had been near 
enough to have sent his long spear among them. 

“ Most likely,” said Beard, as he and Ned again pushed 
forward, “the blackfellows will wait and follow them by 
daylight, when they can do better throwing, and try some 
plan to attack them separately. That ’s their way. Of 


THE WINGS OF THE COFFEE-POT 


185 


course, they are watching Sir Frederick’s camp, but they 
don’t know about the cave.” 

“ Don’t you ever get tired?” asked Ned, in a very weary 
tone of voice. 

“I hardly know what tire is,” replied the cave-man, 
smiling. “I’m all right. Here we are. Now, you carry 
in the coffee and tell them how things are. Tell them not 
to try to leave the cave till I come. I think it would be 
sure destruction for them to make a start just now. So 
remember, Ned! ” 


CHAPTER XV 


THE GREAT DINGO PACK 

T seemed to Ned Wentworth as if the 
cave-man vanished, so suddenly did he 
disappear among the shadows, after his 
warning. Ned’s own idea, however, was 
that Beard had not at all exaggerated 
the peril they were in. When he took 
out the hark door to go in, it occurred to him that the 
ground in front of it was plainly foot-marked. 

“ That 7 s dangerous, 77 he said to himself. “ All of us but 
Beard wear boots and shoes and leave tracks. There will 
be a regular path made and the blackfellows will find it. 
We must get away from this place before they do 5 so must 
Beard. I don 7 t think he is crazy exactly, but then he is 
the queerest kind of fellow. I wonder if he has n’t been 
a convict? 77 

Meanwhile Ned pushed along through the burrow. 

Suddenly there came a low growl, very close to his face. 

u Why, Yip! 77 exclaimed Ned. “I hope you and the 
other dogs remember me! 77 



186 








THE GREAT DINGO PACK 


187 


The dogs did remember him, for the growl was followed 
by whines of eager welcome. All the rest were sleeping 
soundly. 

u I ’ll go to sleep, too,” said Ned. “ I am glad I did n’t 
waken them.” 

He put more wood on the Are, and lay down near the 
other sleepers, and the dogs also lay down again. 

All were asleep there, but not everybody under that 
mountain-side was asleep. 

The cave-man was then in a kind of cellar with a flaring 
torch in his hand, looking down at something on the floor. 
It was not a large room, and it was ruggedly irregular, 
with no entrance to be seen excepting a wide opening at 
the top. On its flat rock floor lay rows and rows of just 
such little bars of yellowish metal as he had cast at his 
fireplace with his crucible and his sand-molds. 

“ They ’re all pure gold! ” he said aloud. “ Heaps of it. 
But of what use is it, to me or anybody else? I took 
pleasure in gathering it. There was danger, too, and 
plenty of good, hard work. It kept me busy, and I used 
to dream of ways to get out into the world and spend it.” 

He was silent for a little, and then he went on talking 
to himself. 

“ It is of no use. I see how it is. I shall never get out 
of the bush. I must stay here. Perhaps I can save them, 
out there. Perhaps not. There are almost too many rob¬ 
bers and blackfellows, and I don’t see exactly how to dodge 
them all.” 


188 


THE WHITE CAYE 


He continued to stare at his ingots and to consider their 
possible uses. 

“ If I could get out into the world,” he said, “ and carry 
them with me, I could have houses, and lands, and friends, 
and have a home again, and not live and die like a wolf or 
a savage. Burrowing in a cave, like an animal, with no¬ 
body but wild beasts and cannibals for neighbors!—and 
yet, for all that, I am a very, very rich man!” 

He said the last words slowly and sarcastically, while he 
turned over some of his ingots with his foot. 

He turned away from the ingots, clambered up through 
the hole at the top of the cellar, and the light of his torch 
showed that he was in one of the many wude cracks of that 
honeycombed limestone rock. He walked along as if he 
were thinking. 

At length he said, “I ’ll let them all sleep until they 
wake of themselves. They were all up late, and they need 
a long rest. They have plenty of hard work before them. 
I would better go and water the horses. They will have 
work enough to do before they get - to ‘the Grampians 7 — 
if they ever reach there.” 

The passage he was in led into the main cave not far 
from the chasm. He left his torch there, and the dogs paid 
no attention to him when he came noiselessly to get the tin 
kettle. Yip and his two friends knew it was his kettle, and 
that he was the man of the house. 

Beard poured some water down in a hollow of the rock 
for the dogs to lap, and then he went out. Next he went 


THE GREAT DINGO PACK 


189 


up the long, swaying ladder, almost as easily as a sailor 
climbs into the rigging. 

Though fastened at each end, above and below, it was 
loose, and it swayed about in the half darkness left by his 
torchlight. Close at hand was the yawning chasm, full of 
the roar of the torrent below, and few would have dared 
go up or down. Beard did not seem to mind it, but went 
up and down several times to bring water. Each time he 
came up, he was absent for a while. He must have visited 
the horses, for at last he remarked: 

u There ! They will get along well enough, now I ’ve 
herded them together. And they can be found, too, when 
they ’re needed. They won’t wander away from one an¬ 
other. Horses are sociable, and love company. And, any¬ 
how, it must be almost daylight now.” 

He went and took a look at the sleepers in the cave, and 
he gazed long and earnestly at them, but said nothing. 
He stepped lightly past them, and soon returned with a 
rifle. He went toward his front door, but when he had 
crept close to it, he hesitated. 

u There ’s danger in opening it,” he said, u but it ’s safer 
now than it will be an hour or so later.” 

He pushed very gently at first, and then harder, but the 
door seemed to resist him. 

“ Something ’s the matter with it,” he thought, “ but I 
can’t hear anything. Somehow or other, too, the peep-hole 
is plugged up, and I can’t see out. It is n’t so dark but 
I ought to see at least a gleam. I ’ll widen it a little.” 


190 


THE WHITE CAVE 


He drew his long, keen bowie-knife from its sheath, and 
put the point of it into a slit of the door that he had felt 
for with his fingers. 

“ Yow! What 7 s that ? 77 exclaimed a voice on the other 
side of the door. 

“ Keep still, Jim! What on earth 7 s happened to you ? 77 

“ I must have backed against somethin 7 with a p’int to 
it. Somethin 7 on the bark, 77 said Jim. “ It did n 7 t hurt 
much, though. 77 

The point of Beard’s knife had barely scratched Jim 
as he leaned against the door, but he was not hurt 
enough to draw his attention long from something in 
front of him. 

“ Bill, 77 said }ie, “ we were fools to come out so early, 
but who 7 d have thought of dingoes 1 ? 77 

“ This is a good enough place to face them in, 77 said Bill. 
“They 7 11 only watch us till daylight. But it 7 s a small 
chance. 77 

“We 7 ve got to shoot, 77 said Jim, “even if the black- 
fellows hear us. They 7 re not near us, or the wolves 
would n 7 t be here. 77 

“ It 7 s a wandering pack, 77 said Bill, “ and they scented 
us. Here are more of them! 77 

Beard lay still and listened, and he heard enough to 
understand the matter. The robbers were too uneasy to 
remain in their camp, and this pair had ventured out in 
the first faint twilight of dawn, to have a hunt after him 
and his nuggets. 


THE GREAT DINGO PACK 


191 


They had found nothing yet—not even the blackfel- 
lows; but a pack of the dingoes which infested that forest 
because of its plentiful game had found them. The men 
had backed down into the hollow between the tree roots 
as a good corner to fight from. There they crouched 
while all the bushes around the hollow became full of 
snapping jaws, lolling red tongues, fierce eyes, and sharp 
scratching paws that tore the earth, in eagerness to get at 
them. 

“ Give it to them, Jim/’ said Bill. “ They ’re coming too 
close.” 

Crack, crack, crack! followed, and Beard knew that 
there were no misses made at such close quarters. Three 
of the nearest wolves tumbled over, and the two fellows 
in the hollow felt safer, for they could be attacked only 
in front. 

“We ’ve killed some of them,” said Jim. “It ’s get¬ 
ting lighter, too. Keep it up, Bill. Steady, boy! There 
are not so many as there were.” 

Beard could see through the slit now and then as Jim’s 
body moved, and he was listening intently. 

“ If it’s the big pack,” he whispered to himself, “ it’s all 
over with Bill and Jim. I don’t want to watch what ’s 
coming.” 

“Bill,” said Jim, “there are more dingoes than I reck¬ 
oned on. Quick! Give me the cartridge-box!” 

“ I did n’t bring along any cartridge-box,” replied Bill. 
“I did n’t suppose we ’d need any more.” 


192 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ That ’s my last shell, then !” answered Jim, despair¬ 
ingly. 

“And mine, too!” said Bill, as he fired once more, and 
then drew his knife. 

Beard hurried back through the burrow as fast as he 
could go, remarking: 

“ It ’s enough to make one’s blood run cold! I ’m 
afraid none of us in here will ever get back to ‘the 
Grampians’!” 

None of the sleepers had been disturbed. Even the 
dogs lay still, unaware that anything strange or new was 
occurring outside. 

“ The big dingo pack seems to have thinned out a lit¬ 
tle,” said Beard to himself, as he stepped silently on 
through the darkness of the cave. “ I hope so. Luckily, 
they never stay long in one place. They ’ll go away as 
soon as the sun is up. It ’s the only big pack I ever 
heard of. They usually hunt in squads.” 

He disappeared, and another hour went by, and another, 
and then at last Sir Frederick Parry awoke and sat up. 

“ Hugh, my boy,” he said, “ are you awake ? ” 

“Yes, Father,” said Hugh, as he sprang to his feet. 
“And there ’s Ned. He ’s sound asleep—” 

“Let him sleep,—he ’s tired out,” said Sir Frederick; 
looking up, he added suddenly, “ Why, there ’s a coffee¬ 
pot!” 

The voice of Lady Parry answered: 


THE GREAT DINGO PACK 


193 


“ Coffee ? I’m glad there is coffee. I was just wonder¬ 
ing what we should do about breakfast. Helen, dear—” 

u I 7 m awake, Aunt Maude. I We been awake quite a 
while. Are we all really here in a cave, or am I dream¬ 
ing ?” 

“ Here we are,” said her uncle, standing up; “ and as for 
breakfast—” 

“ Put the kettle on,” said a voice from the dark. 
“There ’s plenty of coffee, but no milk or sugar. The 
cups are by the fireplace. Come this way, Hugh, and 
we ’ll get the kangaroo. Bring a lighted torch with 
you.” 

“ Kangaroo! ” exclaimed the baronet. “ Where can he 
catch kangaroos, down here, underground ? ” 

u Why,” said Hugh, as he held the end of a torch to the 
fire, “don’t you remember? It ? s the one we shot at our 
camp, when the dingoes drove them into it. We brought 
it here, and hung it down in Mr. Beard’s refrigerator, as 
he calls it.” 

“ That’s it, is it ? ” said Sir Frederick. “ I had forgot¬ 
ten all about the refrigerator.” 

Hugh went with Beard, and in a few minutes he re¬ 
turned, carrying a good supply of fresh, nice-looking cut¬ 
lets, all ready to broil. In the mean time Lady Parry had 
given attention to the cooking, and the coffee-pot was 
steaming over a bed of hot coals. Suddenly Lady Parry 
called out: 

“Where is Mr. Beard? I wish very much to see him.” 


17 


194 


THE WHITE CAVE 


She spoke so earnestly that she awakened Ned, and he 
sprang to his feet, rubbing his eyes. Hugh replied: 

“Why, Mother, he has gone on another errand, and he 
said nobody was to go out at the front door on any 
account.” 

“ Did he say why ? ” asked the baronet, hastily; but 
something that he saw in Hugh's face made him add, “All 
right. I suppose he knows why. Now we will have our 
coffee. He made his own coffee-cups, apparently.” 

Sir Frederick picked up, one after another, several 
rudely shaped earthen cups that lay near the fire, and 
examined them. 

Beard himself needed breakfast as much as anybody; 
but, for some unknown reason, he had decided to eat it 
alone, without coffee. At that very moment he was cook¬ 
ing for himself over a fire he had kindled in the roofed 
cranny of the rocks at his side door. The sun was well up 
in the sky before he had finished his meal. 

“ I think it is time now,” he said, “ for me to go and see 
how things look under the big tree.” 

He went cautiously, skulking from rock to rock and from 
tree to tree, all around the broken angle of the hillside. He 
proceeded more and more carefully as he approached his 
own front door, although he remarked to himself, “Of 
course the dingoes are gone,—and so are the men.” 

He reached the spot at last, and glanced rapidly around. 

“Is it possible!” he exclaimed. “Well, the whole pack 
must have been here. But the rifles are gone, and even the 


THE GREAT DINGO PACK 


195 


knives ! Nothing left! Have the blackfellows come here? 
Or have the four other rascals been spying about ? Some¬ 
body must have finished what the dingoes began.” 

That was evident. Only human hands could have left 
his yard entirely clear of some proofs of what had taken 
place, yet there were only scattered cartridge-shells. 

u It must mean blackfellows, v he said. They never leave 
behind a strip or rag of cloth. I don't think either they or 
the robbers are likely to come back to this place, but the 
wolves will be sure to come. Our chances are about as bad 
as bad can be. I must have a talk with Sir Frederick, but 
I won't see the others." 

He opened the bark door as he spoke, and disappeared 
in the burrow. 


CHAPTER XVI 


WILD COMPANY IN THE CAVE 

T was a blue morning, in spite of the sun¬ 
shine, at Sir Frederick Parry’s river-side 
camp. The men were all up, but no two 
of them were of the same mind as to 
what they were to do next. 

“We can’t go back to ‘the Grampings’ 
without them,” said Marsh. 

“ I’d spend the rest of me life here a-huntin’ for them,” 
said Bob McCracken with energy, “ before I’d give it up 
they were gone.” 

The other two men had nothing to say. 

“Boys,” remarked Marsh, after a long silence, “we ’ll 
see to the hosses and mules, and then we ’ll have another 
day’s hunt. There’s no telling but we might find them, 
somewhere.” 

They had much to say about blackfellows, while they 
were getting ready, and they were a gloomy, downhearted 
set of men. Again and again they regretted the absence 
of the dogs. 



196 




WILD COMPANY IN THE CAVE 


197 


Yip and his two comrades were very busy at about that 
time. Without orders the three dogs had undertaken an 
exploration of the cave, but the mystery of it had seemed 
to be too much for them. They came back from the edge 
of the chasm with drooping tails, and, sitting down, they 
all barked and howled in that direction. 

“ Maude,” said Sir Frederick, “ it is very remarkable 
how the echoes of that howling multiply. It sounds as if 
there were a hundred dogs.” 

At that moment something new caught his eye, and he 
arose and walked to the other side of the cave. 

“I declare!” he said, as he picked up the crucible. “A 
regular smelting-pot. Slag, too. Maude, this fellow has 
been melting down metallic ore of some kind or other. It 
is curious. There is no metal to be found in rock of this 
character. No mine of any description can be around 
here— But, then, this is an extraordinary country.” 

He studied the crucible and the slag a moment, and 
then said: 

“ I hope Beard will return soon. He said he could easily 
guide us to the camp. I ’d like to know what the men 
are doing.” 

“We may be thankful, indeed, if we ever find it again,” 
said Lady Parry. “ Even at best it may take a week to 
reach ‘the Grampians’—perhaps two weeks.” 

u Aunt Maude,” said Helen, with a face beaming with 
courage, “now that we are all together again, it seems to 
me I can endure anything. Last evening, there I was, all 


198 


THE WHITE CAVE 


alone in the woods, worn out,— oh, how glad I was to see 
Ned and the dogs come! Hear those dogs, now! ” 

They were indeed making a great noise, and the sound 
seemed to he echoed hack in peculiarly mournful howls, 
pitched in different keys, vastly increased in volume, and 
very much confused and mingled. 

“ It ’s queer,” remarked Sir Frederick,— “ it is really 
extraordinary that the noise of those dogs should sepa¬ 
rate and multiply and change so in being echoed. I must 
ask Beard if he has noticed anything of the sort. I 
thought, a moment ago, that I almost recognized Yip’s 
howl among them.” 

It was very curious, certainly; hut everybody has no¬ 
ticed what odd effects echoes will have at times. Every¬ 
thing about the situation of the Parry family was un¬ 
common, as Ned and Hugh were even then saying. The 
main point which they were arguing was whether they 
should venture to disobey Beard’s injunction and take 
a look out into the open air. 

Meanwhile a very different series of conversations took 
place elsewhere. The men in Sir Frederick’s camp were 
talking much of him, and wishing he were there to give 
them fresh orders. 

The four bad fellows, in the camp by the waterfall, were 
discussing the fate of their two comrades who had gone 
out so early and had not returned. 

“ What on earth has become of them ? ” was asked again 
and again; but there was no answer. 


WILD COMPANY IN THE CAVE 


199 


But Jim and Bill had not fallen victims to the wild dogs. 
While they stood at bay with drawn knives, resolved to die 
fighting, and hopeless of rescue, the band of blackfellows 
came running through the woods. 

They knew how to frighten dingoes, and at once set up 
a chorus of wild yells. This diversion, together with the 
stout resistance made by the white men, was too much for 
the pack. With one accord they turned and made after 
the blackfellows. No sooner were the besiegers gone than 
Jim and Bill ran into the woods, and climbed trees. The 
blackfellows had previously adopted the same plan. 

The savages did not know that the white men were so 
near. The rattling reports of their shooting had first at¬ 
tracted the quick-eared blackfellows, while now the fact 
that the white men were not firing led the savages to take 
it for granted that they had gone to their camp. 

The sun arose, and another very natural resolve came 
to the dingoes. They had watched men in trees long 
enough, and enough of them had been slaughtered to sat¬ 
isfy them for one morning. They came to a howling de¬ 
cision of that sort, at last, and the entire pack set off 
upon an easy gallop along the mountain side. Not one 
of them had been in sight when Beard came out at his 
side door that morning and went to examine his front 
yard. 

At the foot of each of the trees which contained the 
forlorn white fellows lay an empty, useless rifle which 
seemed to look up mockingly at its helpless owner. 


200 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ Bill,” exclaimed Jim, suddenly, “ look yonder! If that 
does n’t beat me! ” 

“ There he is,” said Bill. “ That’s the man !—he’s as 
unconcerned as if nobody was after him ! ” 

“ Could n’t we pepper him, just now!” said Jim,— “ if 
we had cartridges.” 

“ But we have n’t a cartridge,” said Bill. “ Besides, we 
don’t want to pepper him till after we ’ve made him tell 
us where he’s hid his pile of nuggets.” 

“ That’s so,” replied Jim $ “but we’ve got something to 
tell the boys, now.” 

So they sat there in the tree-forks and talked about 
Beard and of what they meant to do to him, long after he 
was hidden from their sight by trunks and foliage. He, 
on his side, had no idea that he had been seen, although 
he knew it was quite possible. He was studying the 
wrecks and relics of the fight between the dingoes and 
the two white men. 

“How those brutes will devour one of their own kind, 
as soon as he’s knocked over,” he remarked, just before 
he went into his house. “ There seems to be nothing 
eatable that they won’t eat.” 

Ned and Hugh were still busy with the question of 
whether they should venture out, when they were startled 
once more. 

“Ned, come this way,” exclaimed a voice which Ned 
supposed to be at that moment far away. 


WILD COMPANY IN THE CAVE 


201 


“ 1’in coming,” Ned replied; and then he added, speaking 
in a low voice to Hugh, “ How that man does get around!” 

“Well,” said Hugh, “he knows the way. The dogs are 
out yonder, and yet they did n’t hear him.” 

“ Ned,” said Beard, as soon as they were together among 
the pillars, “I want to have Sir Frederick come in here, 
and nobody else. Do you know what ’s the matter with 
those dogs?” 

“ They are scared at the chasm, or at the dark, I sup¬ 
pose,” said Ned. 

“ No, it’s not that,” said Beard, anxiously. “ Tell him to 
come here, right away. I know dogs, my boy. There ’s 
something in that cave that ’s alive and moving. What 
can it be ? Tell Sir Frederick to come here! Quick ! ” 

Ned sprang back to the baronet and gave his errand in 
a swift, excited whisper, adding: 

“Don’t scare Lady Maude and Helen, nor Hugh, either. 
Come! ” 

But Sir Frederick Parry was not easily frightened. He 
rose, and answered: 

“ I ’ll go, my boy. You and Hugh put more wood on the 
fire. Cali in the dogs.” 

In a moment more he stood face to face with Beard. 
The two men were of nearly the same size, but there was 
a marked contrast between the long-bearded, roughly 
dressed man of the woods, and the elegantly dressed, 
closely cropped English gentleman. 


202 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“What is it, Beard?” he asked, and Beard told him 
rapidly all there was to tell about the blackfellows and 
the white men outside the cave. 

“Now, Sir Frederick,” said Beard, “do you hear your 
dogs ?” 

Ned and Hugh were vainly trying to quiet them, and 
Yip and the hounds were barking furiously. 

“ Remarkable echoes,” replied Sir Frederick j “ very 
extraordinary, indeed! ” 

“Echoes!” exclaimed Beard. “Don’t you recognize that 
howl? How they got in I cannot imagine, but the great 
dingo pack is in this cave! It comes into these woods 
every few months. It comes and goes. It ’s here now ? ” 

“ Wolves in the cave ! ” gasped the baronet. “ And there 
are cannibals and ex-convicts outside!” 

“I ’ve had to face such things, year after year,” said 
Beard, bitterly; “ but I ’ve been alone. I never had to 
take care of women or boys. I ’m glad we have so 
much fuel right here. That will help. So will one thing 
more—if we dare do it! ” 

“ What’s that ? ” asked the baronet. 

“Why,” said Beard, “we must build another fire further 
down the cave. It will keep them off, perhaps with some 
shooting to help, until we dare venture out of the front 
door and try to reach your camp.” 

“I ’m ready,” said Sir Frederick. “You ’re a brave 
fellow.” 

Beard was truly a brave fellow, but the beads of per- 



“‘that ’s the great dingo pack,’ said beard.” 





WILD COMPANY IN THE CAVE 


205 


spiration came out on his broad forehead, as he stood and 
listened to the clamor, which seemed to be momentarily 
increasing. Sir Frederick’s face, also, betrayed his feel¬ 
ings, and now they both darted forward. 

“We must have torches!” said Beard, quickly. “All of 
you gather up pine-knot sticks and light them. Boys, 
bring all the wood you can carry. Load your guns. 
Let the ladies help, too. They can light torches and 
carry wood. I hn glad there’s plenty of firewood.” 

“ Helen,” said Lady Parry, “ I don’t know what it is for, 
but some danger threatens us. We must do as he says.” 

“ I can carry wood,” said Helen. “ I have found a splen¬ 
did torch-stick. My revolver is loaded, too.” 

The dry pine-knot at the end of the stick kindled swiftly 
and threw a strong glare of ruddy light over her excited 
face, and she looked very resolute. 

Ned and Hugh sprang to their work with but a dim 
idea of what it was for, while Yip and the hounds re¬ 
doubled their barking; the noise from the other end of 
the cave also grew louder and more hideous, helped as 
it was by all the echoes from the sides and roof. 

“ Bring the wood here, Sir Frederick,” said Beard, and 
they quickly halted at the very edge of the chasm. “We 
will kindle our fire here,” he went on. “It’s odd, but I 
never made much of a fire here before. I never brought 
anything bigger than a torch.” 

Down went the wood, in a growing heap. It was dry, 
a great part of it was resinous, and it kindled fast. Up 
18 


206 


THE WHITE CAVE 


sprang the dancing blaze, throwing a bright fire-glow 
upon the vaulted roof, with its glittering white stalac¬ 
tites, and upon the stalagmite-dotted floor, strewn with 
fragments. Down into the mysterious chasm went the 
new illumination; but all the party were staring across 
the chasm, not into it, as Beard exclaimed: 

“ It’s not nearly so wide as I thought it was, but still 
they can’t jump across. Look!” 

They looked, and they all drew short, shuddering breaths, 
though they could not see much, after all. It was only 
a darkness, into which the firelight streamed flaringly, 
showing an array of greenish, gleaming eyes, clashing 
teeth, and shadowy shapes of heads and legs. 

“That’s the great dingo pack,” said Beard. “No doubt 
about it. How they got there puzzles me entirely. I 
never was over on that side of the chasm.” 

“Do you think they can find any way to get around 
to this side?” asked Sir Frederick, uneasily. 

“Not that I know of,” said Beard. “There they are. 
The cave must go to the river-bank on the other side 
of the mountain. It runs all around it, you know— 
“Ned! Hugh! Hold on! Don’t shoot!” suddenly 
shouted Beard, as the boys were lifting their guns. “ You 
will bring down a shower of stalactites on our heads! 
There comes one! Back to the front of the cave! ” 
Crash! And then a thunderous roar followed the fall 
of that stalactite, mingled with the mournful howling of 
the dingoes and the yelps of the terrified dogs. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 

A-KAK-KIA and his followers and their 
enemies, with whom there was now tem¬ 
porarily a truce, had of course made a 
search after Beard and the white horse¬ 
man whom he had rescued, but they were 
not surprised at failing to find either of 
them. One of the cave-man’s strong points, in their es¬ 
teem, was that they could not kill him, while another was 
his magical power of vanishing. 

They were puzzled, however, as to what had become of 
the two white fellows who had shot the kangaroos by the 
cabbage-palm prairie. They were also deeply interested in 
the six white fellows encamped near the waterfall, and as 
to the best method to take in boomeranging or spearing 
them. 

They were holding an animated debate upon these ques¬ 
tions, when the rattle of the shots fired by Bill and Jim 
came to their ears. After that, the presence of the great 
dingo pack gave them yet another problem, but they knew 

207 








208 


THE WHITE CAVE 


the habits of wild dogs. Many kangaroos and other game 
had come or been chased into those woods; many squads 
of dingoes had been attracted, and, for once, the usual 
order of things was broken up. A hunt for something to 
eat was as necessary to them as to the fierce creatures w T ho 
had already treed so many of them, after driving away any 
large game from that neighborhood; and they decided to 
hunt, and fish, and dig before waging another war. They 
were pretty sure of success. All animals, large or small, 
all birds that could be reached, nearly all things were food 
to them. The Australian blackfellow has no narrow preju¬ 
dices, and he can live well where the ignorant, helpless 
white fellow might starve. It was also true that they 
could do, at the same time, all the scouting needful, and 
they scattered in all directions. 

Bill and Jim were still sitting in the forks of their re¬ 
spective trees, discussing the dingo question, the blackfel- 
lows, and Beard, when they heard a cautious “ Coo-ee-e ” at 
no great distance. 

u Bill,” exclaimed Jim, as he answered it, “ those are our 
fellows! ” 

u What on earth are you two doing up those trees?” the 
new-comers asked. 

The explanation, which was given as they were getting 
down, brought on a lively talk, and it seemed as if even the 
dingoes were of less importance than the actual sight of 
the owner of the nuggets and the excellent chance of 
catching him. 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 


209 


u We are sure of him now!” they said. “Bill and Jim 
can go to camp for some rations. We 11 go and take a 
look at the place where you met the dingo pack. Don’t 
you be gone too long. We ’ll get him!” 

They were hardened to the dangers of the life they were 
leading, and they knew, besides, that four experienced rifle¬ 
men were a strong party against any enemies likely to 
come. 

The four went and stood under the great tree before 
Beard’s front door, and looked at it; but they never 
dreamed of burrowing under the roots of the tree. 

The great cavern was still secure, so far as any search 
from without was concerned. Never before had it been so 
brilliantly illuminated, but the people in it were not admir¬ 
ing the white splendors around and above them. The 
cave-man himself had been the person nearest to Lady 
Parry, as they retreated from the edge of the chasm 
toward the fireplace, and she had stared at him with a 
strangely bewildered expression upon her face. Suddenly 
she staggered and reeled, and he put out an arm, as if to 
catch her, exclaiming: 

“ Sir Frederick! She is fainting! ” 

“No, I am not,” she said; but it was evidently with a 
great effort, and his help was really just in time. He was 
compelled to support her for a moment, before she could 
recover herself. Ned Wentworth had been almost as quick 
to come, torch in hand, and he held it very near. As he 
did so, he saw that Lady Parry had turned pale, and he 


210 


THE WHITE CAVE 


thought that he heard her say something. Then he saw 
the cave-man’s face turn deadly white, and it seemed as if 
he also said something. It sounded like: 

“ Silence! He is dead! ” 

“I never noticed it before,” said Ned to himself, “but 
Lady Parry’s eyes and hair certainly are very like the 
cave-man’s.” 

The likeness came out strongly in the torchlight, and a 
strange idea came flashing into the mind of Ned. But 
Lady Parry had already recovered her composure, and Sir 
Frederick had been listening to Hugh. 

“ Father! ” shouted Hugh. “ Did you see those dingoes % 
They are crowded over! Down they go ! One, two, three 
of them! Look ! ” 

One after another, three unlucky wild dogs, pressed by 
an eager rush of their companions, were forced over the 
edge of the chasm. Down they went, and the splashes of 
their plunges into the water below could be heard. 

Their barking, or something else, had detached a big sta¬ 
lactite from the roof over that side of the chasm, and it had 
fallen, with a shattering and a scattering of fragments, right 
among the pack. One or two must have been crushed and 
others injured; and all were smitten with a sudden panic. 

The fire and the falling rock, together, had temporarily 
conquered their ferocity, and they fled, howling, into the 
unbroken darkness beyond. 

“ Of course they can get out,” said Beard, “ and we ’re 
rid of them for this time.” 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 


211 


“ I am thankful,” said the baronet. “ It is a great de¬ 
liverance. But what I am thinking of is the horses. If 
they die of thirst, or if the wolves find them, we can’t get 
away.” 

“ They are cared for! ” exclaimed Beard. “ They ’re all 
away down below the mountain, on the river-bank, about 
where Ned found Helen. There’s water enough there and 
good grass, too. They ’ll be ready when we want them.” 

“ You ’re a thoughtful man,” said Sir Frederick, heartily. 
“ I don’t exactly see what to make of you.” 

“Frederick,” said Lady Parry, huskily, “come with me!” 

Again Ned Wentworth thought he saw Beard’s face turn 
white, but he had a question to ask, and it kept him from 
noticing closely. 

“ Beard,” he said, “ we’ve made a fire here, but there’s 
more smoke than that can make. It seems to me, I smell 
burning leaves.” 

“Leaves?” said Beard. “You are right, Ned; there ’s 
smoke coming up from the chasm ! I can’t understand it. 
I had some bags of leaves, to sleep on, in my old place, but 
it can’t be those. What can it be ? ” 

Lady Parry had led her husband away, and at that mo¬ 
ment she was looking earnestly into his face, while she held 
his arm with both her hands. She was saying something 
rapidly, and Ned heard some words, and others in the deep, 
husky tones of the baronet. 

“ Fallen so low as this ! ” 

“ He saved our lives,” she said. “ Yours, mine—” 


212 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Yes, Maude,” lie responded; “but what brought him 
here ? ” 

“ He saved our lives! ” she repeated, as if she could think 
of no other answer just then. 

“Yes,” he said, “and I do not mean to be ungrateful; 
but how did he ever come to live in a house of this kind ? 
Beard,” he added, more loudly, to the cave-man, “ can you 
come here for a moment ? ” 

“Not now, Sir Frederick,” responded the cave-man. “I ’ll 
explain by and by. Something new has happened. Do you 
smell that smoke ? See it come up from the chasm! ” 

“It smells like burning grass,” said Lady Parry. “Is 
the forest on fire ? ” 

“ Not the forest itself,” he said thoughtfully. “ It’s too 
green, I should say. Sir Frederick, I must speak plainly. 
We may be in great peril.” 

“How so, Tom?” said the baronet, throwing an arm 
around his wife. 

“Tom?” said Ned Wentworth to himself. “That was 
the name of her brother, in the story he told me! That 
was the name of the convict they all turned against. 
That ’s why his hair is like Lady Parry’s.” 

Beard—or Tom Gordon, if that was his name—hesi¬ 
tated for a moment, and then replied to Sir Frederick: 

“ I never went over to the other side of this mountain. 
It’s more of a hill—a ridge—than a mountain, and it is 
a succession of rugged ledges covered with thick scrub. 
You can’t get through, it’s so thick. I always took for 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 


213 


granted that the river ran around it, but it does n’t. 
That’s the river, right down there in the chasm. It runs 
underground for some distance, just like twenty other 
Australian streams.” 

“ But it won’t burn,” said the baronet, “ and the forest 
won’t burn.” 

“ The scrub on the hill is dry as tinder, at this season,” 
said Tom. “ The rubbish under it will burn, and there’s a 
seam of lignite, that ’ll burn almost like hard coal. It’s 
all afire, I think.” 

“ Are we to be suffocated ? ” asked Lady Parry. “ Can’t 
we get out at the front entrance ? ” 

“ Now the dingoes are gone, there are only the blackfel- 
lows and the white robbers to fear,” he said; “ I must go 
and look out.” 

“ But the side door ? ” said the baronet. “ No ; Maude 
and Helen could never climb that ladder.” 

u Sir Frederick,” said the cave-man, with a shudder, 
u that door would lead us out into the fire, I’m afraid. 
Besides, one of our worst perils is on that side. I ’ll tell 
you what it is, as soon as I get back.” 

He strode away and disappeared among the pillars; for 
they had all now returned near the fireplace. 

“ Maude,” said Sir Frederick, “this is all so strange, so 
unexpected, that I’ve got beyond being surprised by any¬ 
thing. I’d hardly be startled if the roof should fall.” 

“The boys have heard enough—’’began Lady Parry; 
but she was interrupted. 


214 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ So have I, Aunt Maude,” said Helen, excitedly, though 
not speaking loudly. “ Is he my Uncle Tom ? Is Beard 
really Tom Gordon ? ” 

“Sir Frederick,” said Ned, “may I tell what he told me?” 

“Yes,” said the baronet. 

“Quick, Ned!” exclaimed Lady Parry. “Tell it before 
he gets back.” 

Ned was eager enough to tell all that he had heard dur¬ 
ing his moonlight scout with Beard, and he was listened to 
with close attention. 

“ I believe it,” said Sir Frederick. “ I believe every word 
of it.” 

“Believe it?” exclaimed Lady Parry. “ Of course I be¬ 
lieve it. Tom ? s a wronged man! Why did he not let us 
know! My poor brother! He was always reckless, and he 
was proud, too ! ” 

“ I bn glad he ? s my uncle,” said Hugh. “ I knew he was 
a gentleman, the first glimpse I had of him.” 

“ That won’t save his life,” said Sir Frederick, thought¬ 
fully. “ There’s too much evil-doing been laid at his door. 
I’ve heard enough about him bo hang a dozen men. All 
the other villains made him a scapegoat.” 

“ Frederick,” said his wife. “ v Tom could not have done 
anything wrong! ” 

“I don’t say he did,” replied the baronet. “I mean 
that all the bushrangers laid their deeds to him, and 
he would have to suffer accordingly. There are rewards 
offered—” 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 


215 


11 But he did n’t do it! ” exclaimed Helen. “ I know he 
did n’t do it! They can’t hang him for something that he 
did n’t do.” 

“ Yes, they might,” said Sir Frederick. “I don’t see how 
he’s to get out of it.” 

“We’ve got to save him!” exclaimed Hugh. “He saved 
our lives! ” 

“ Sir Frederick,” said Ned, “ I guess we can, too. I’ve 
an idea -in my head that occurred to me when he told me 
the story, that night, of how to save just such a man as he 
told about.” Ned talked rapidly on for a minute or so. 

Out at the cave door, Beard, or Tom Gordon, was peer¬ 
ing anxiously through the slit and into the faces of four 
men. Every face he looked into was that of a man who 
had been justly convicted of crime. 

“ Boys,” said one of them, “ he’s right around here, some- 
wheres. We ’ll capture him, nuggets and all.” 

“He can’t get away, this time,” said another. “We ’ll 
fix him. Pity we could n’t take him in and claim the 
rewards offered for him.” 

“We can’t do that,” was the reply. 

Beard, behind the bark door, muttered to himself: “They 
won’t get him; but I don’t see how he’s to get out of this. 
We ’re all shut in an oven.” 

The four men now began to make remarks about the 
smoke, and to wonder where it came from. 

“ I had a torch, before daylight, this morning,” said one 
of them. “ I threw it into some scrub, not more than a 


216 


THE WHITE CAVE 


mile above here, when I was scouting toward the river, 
away from the rest of you. It might have lit—” 

“ Well, I guess it did/ 7 said another. “Look up yonder!” 

They looked along the slope, as he pointed, but there was 
less and less to see, every minute. Great clouds and col¬ 
umns of smoke were rising, and were driving before the 
warm north wind that was beginning to blow. 

Tongues of dancing fire now and then shot up out of the 
smoke-clouds. There could be no doubt of it, whatever,— 
all that side of the mountain was ablaze, and the flame was 
crossing the ridge to come down on the other side. It fed 
upon dense, dry scrub and underbrush, and the rubbish 
collected there, century after century. There was fuel 
enough, and, now it was so well kindled, there would be 
fire and smoke enough. The four robbers said so, and 
Beard, or Tom Gordon, heard them, and he went back into 
the cave to tell the story. 

Sir Frederick Parry heard him through, as did all the 
rest 5 but while they looked at each other in silence, he 
beckoned the cave-man to follow him. 

“Torn,” he said,—“are you really Tom Gordon? Ned 
Wentworth has told us the story you told him—” 

“I 7 m Maude Gordon 7 s — Lady Parry’s — brother Torn,” 
the cave-man replied; “ but that 7 s of little consequence, 
just now. 1 7 m a doomed man, at all events, and I ’m 
afraid we ’re all lost.” 

“ I believe every word you ’ve said,” interrupted the baro¬ 
net; “but the Yankee boy has been proposing something 


THE GREAT CAVE-OVEN 


217 


we can talk about, pretty soon. What did you say about 
the greatest danger being at the side door? How can 
anybody get in there ? ” 

“Nobody could,” said Tom Gordon. “That is not the 
danger. I ’m a miner. That is, I have been — ” 

“ I saw your crucible,” said the baronet, “ and I hope you 
succeeded—” 

“ I did/ 7 said Tom. “ I hope to show you how well; but 
that was done by placer-work,—washing out, you know. I 
found a good quartz vein, though, and I was fool enough 
to set out to work it, just for something to do. I needed 
to do some blasting, and I bought all the powder one 
other party had. They ’d failed. They had six kegs of 
blasting-powder and two big kegs of dynamite, and it’s all 
stored in the crevice we came in by, at the side door. Logs 
are heaped over it. We’d run the risk of it, if we went 
that way—” 

“ Is it sure to explode, sooner or later? ” asked Sir Fred¬ 
erick, calmly. 

“ Of course it is, when the fire gets in there,” said Tom 
Gordon; “and there ’s no telling what it will do to the 
cave and the mountain.” 

“It will be a heavy blast,” said the baronet. “At all 
events, the dingoes won’t come back while the mountain’s 
on fire. Is there any chance for us at the front door ? ” 

“ Toward night there may be,— if we ’re alive then,” said 
Gordon. “We must get ready, anyhow.” 

“ If I can once reach my own camp,” said Sir Frederick, 


19 


218 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“I think I can see you cleared. The Yankee boy’s idea is a 
good one.” 

If the baronet had then been at the camp, he would have 
seen a very extraordinary affair. His four men had evi¬ 
dently been riding far enough and fast enough to tire their 
horses, and had brought them back to the river for water. 
All had dismounted, and now stood staring out at some¬ 
thing that floated down the swift current of the river. 

“Marsh,” said Keets, “they can just keep their fore paws 
well over it.” 

“It rolls under them—don’t you see? ” said Marsh. 

“ Don’t I see ? ” exclaimed Bob McCracken. “ Don’t I ? 
Well, I do see, and I never in all my life before saw three 
wolves a-floatin’ down-stream on one log! ” 

Three mournful howls from the dingoes on the log came 
back for answer. The plunge down the chasm had, indeed, 
not been high enough to kill them. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


TOM GORDON’S TREASURE 

OM,” said Lady Parry, coming nearer to 
him and her husband, “ I wish you 
would tell me more about yourself ” 
“No, Maude,” he replied; “not now. 
If we ever get out of this place alive, I 
shall have enough to tell you.” 

“Have you any idea what to do*?” she asked. “The fire 
cannot get in here.” 

“No,” he said. “ Yes, there is one thing we can do, while 
we are waiting. Come with me, Sir Frederick and Ned and 
Hugh.” 

He strode away, and the baronet and the boys followed 
him down the sloping floor of the cave. He and Sir Fred¬ 
erick carried torches, and the boys had to be told to leave 
their guns, for there would be nothing to shoot. 

“ Where can they be going, Aunt Maude ? ” asked Helen. 

“ I have no idea,” said Lady Parry. “ How I do want to 
know more about Tom! It is so many long years since 
we lost sight of him! Why, my dear, your uncle has prop- 

219 








220 


THE WHITE CAVE 


erty in England—not much, but enough to live on. His 
brother—your father—would n’t keep it from him a day.” 

“ Of course he would n’t,” said Helen; “ but what good 
is his property, if they hang him for things that he never 
did?” 

“ It ’s a dreadful situation! ” said Lady Parry, weeping. 
“ Why did we ever come out into the bush! ” 

“Why, Aunt Maude,” said Helen, “we did n’t know 
it, but we really must have come out here after Uncle 
Tom.” 

“And now we’ve found him,” replied Lady Parry, be¬ 
tween her sobs, “ it is only to die together.” 

“ I don’t believe it,” said Helen. “ And we’d never have 
found him if we had n’t lost ourselves first.” 

Tom Gordon walked out of the main room of the cave by 
a rugged, gloomy, water-dripping corridor, and the rest 
followed him with eager curiosity. Sir Frederick was 
about to ask where it led to, when the cave-man halted, 
remarking: 

“Look down through that hole. I used to amuse my¬ 
self by making bags of kangaroo-skin to put the gold in. 
There’s enough of them. Sir Frederick, you and I and 
Hugh can go down and pitch the sacks up to Ned. Stay 
here, Ned.” 

“ It’s all gold! ” exclaimed the baronet. 

“ I ran it into bars as well as I could,” said the cave-man, 
“ but the heap of slag out there by the fireplace has lots of 
gold in it yet. I could n’t get it all out, you know.” 


TOM GORDON’S TREASURE 


221 


Down they went through the hole before them, and they 
stood among the spread-out bars on the floor of the treas¬ 
ure-chamber. 

u Mark what I say now, Sir Frederick,” said the cave-man. 
“ Look at this stuff. I never could quite understand why 
I worked so hard to get it, seeing I had no use for it, and 
could never have. Now we may get you back to 1 the Gram¬ 
pians/ and we may not. It ’s pretty sure death for me, any¬ 
how. If I get through into the world, of course the gold is 
all mine. If I don’t, you need n’t say where it came from. 
Give Ned a quarter of it, and divide the rest between Hugh 
and Helen. You and Maude and my brother Robert do 
not need any of it. Perhaps the young people don’t, but 
I hope it won’t hurt them.” 

“ I ’ll do just as you say,” said the baronet. “ Trust it 
with me. But I think Ned’s Yankee idea will work. It’s 
just this —” 

“ Not now,” said the cave-man, beginning to pick up the 
bars and drop them into the little leather bags that lay be¬ 
side them. “ No time to talk; put them in the sacks and 
pitch them up to Ned.” 

It was easy and rapid work, and as soon as it was done 
they all clambered back to the corridor. 

“ There,” said the cave-man, looking at the heap of bags; 
“ about a ton of it. I’ve been at it, year after year, and 
trip after trip to the gulches, melting, casting, there and 
here, because I had nothing else to do. I had nothing to 
spend it on, and nobody to divide with.” 


222 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Well/ 7 replied tlie baronet, “the bags weigh ten or 
twelve pounds apiece. Yon and I can take two in each 
hand, and the boys one in each hand. That ’s twelve bags 
among us—about a hundred and fifty pounds or less. We 
can carry it all out to the front door, if we ’re not too long 
doing it; but we can’t take it away with us.” 

“ Not this time,” said Tom Gordon. “ But it ’ll be there 
if we can come back. I think we must work fast.” 

They gathered up their loads and went, and no sooner 
were they where they could be seen than Lady Parry, 
standing up with a torch in her hand, with Helen at her 
side, exclaimed: 

“ Frederick, where does this smoke come from ? Is the 
cave on fire ? Is it a volcano ? ” 

“No, my dear,” said he, quietly, “it’s only the scrub and 
brush outside. The cave’s all right.” 

“ What have you there ? ” she asked. 

“ Some of Tom’s property,” he said. 

“ Mother ! ” shouted Hugh. “ It’s all gold ! Heaps and 
heaps of it! Uncle Tom’s a rich miner—” 

“ And the poorest man in all the world,” added Tom, him¬ 
self. “An outlaw, with a price on his head — a mere 
dingo, to be shot on sight.” 

“You must not be discouraged,” said the baronet, hope¬ 
fully; “Ned Wentworth’s idea’s a good one. We can carry 
it out.” 

Down went the bags among the pillars, near the burrow 
to the door, and they hastened back for more, leaving Lady 


TOM GORDON’S TREASURE 


223 


Maude and Helen talking over the remarkable matter of 
the gold bars. It was less and less easy to talk with¬ 
out coughing, for the smoke was becoming dense and 
pungent. 

The four men at Sir Frederick's camp had watched the 
wolves go by, and then Marsh remarked, with a slow shake 
of his head: 

“B’ys, I knowed that dingoes could swim. Yes, I 
knowed they was good swimmers, but think o’ the likes o’ 
that?” 

“ ’Deed and I ’d heard they could swim,” said Bob Mc¬ 
Cracken. “ I ’d heard tell how cute they was, too — cun¬ 
ning as foxes. But who ever heard of ’em goin’ to sea 
on a log, to help ’em cross a river ? ” 

The forest grew dim with smoke, blown down from the 
blazing slope of the mountain. It was as if the bright 
December sky were getting densely clouded, and the air 
grew uncomfortably warm, even for that hot season of 
the year. 

It was a bad day for hunting and for fishing and for 
scouting. All the hunters and fishermen, whether black or 
white, wasted a great deal of time in watching the fire 
which was now sweeping so fearfully over the mountain. 

“That fellow will find himself roasted, Bill,” said Jim, 
“ if he’s up there.” 

“No, he won’t,” said Bill, “but it ’ll drive him down to 
where we can get at him easier. All we’ve got to do is 
jist to wait and let it burn, till it drives him out.” 


224 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“We ’ll watch around and get him,” said one of their com¬ 
rades 5 “but the fish won’t bite while that fire’s burning.” 

Tom Gordon had explained to Sir Frederick that this 
was precisely what he believed his enemies would do. 

“ Well,” replied the baronet, “but they’ll never dream 
of troubling you while you are with us. It is n’t six to 
one any longer. It’s six to four.” 

“ Exactly,” said Tom Gordon, “ but those blackfellows are 
on the watch, too. We must avoid them as carefully as we 
do the robbers.” 

“That is n’t all, Sir Frederick,” said Ned Wentworth. 
“You don’t want any one to know he ’s gone with you. 
That ’d upset everything.” 

“Of course it would,” exclaimed the baronet. “Why 
did n’t I think of that? It’s because Ned’s a Yankee.” 

“Well,” said Tom, “I ’m a sort of Australian-Yankee. 
And it’s time for me to do a little scouting. I’ve got to 
take some risk, and I ’ll take Ned with me. You must keep 
still here till we get back.” 

“ How long ? ” asked the baronet. 

“I’m after—the—horses!” was all the reply made by 
the cave-man, for some smoke in his throat made him 
cough. “ There’s no time to lose.” 

The great hollow of the cavern was getting dim and blue, 
and not another word of opposition or inquiry followed 
Gordon and Ned as they hurried out. 

Sir Frederick’s face grew suddenly pale over a thought 
that came to him. He was always listening, as if in dread 


TOM GORDON’S TREASURE 


225 


of the explosion, and that was one thing that made him 
so very silent. 

The same thought kept Tom Gordon and Ned and 
Hugh silent also. 

The cave-man looked as rugged and rough as ever, when 
he and Ned crept out of the burrow and stood in the bushes 
at the foot of the great tree, looking and listening. 

“ The smoke ’s a help to us,” said he. 

“ I came pretty near calling you 1 Beard/ ” said Ned. 
“ Yes; I’m glad. They can’t see far. There’s one thing, 
though; if we get the horses, what are we to do about the 
saddles and bridles ? ” 

“ They ’re all right,” said Gordon. “ When I was out, in 
the night, I gathered them all into one pile.” 

“ I don’t see how you did it,” exclaimed Ned. 

“ I took a horse with me,” said Gordon. “ I knew where 
they were. Now, Ned, down on all fours till we get under 
cover. Creep close after me! ” 

Down dropped Ned, and he felt at once a little safer. It 
seemed, too, as if the air had so many sounds in it that 
a mere rustling could not be heard by anybody. Voices 
were louder, however 5 and they had hardly reached the 
first clump of thick bushes before Ned stopped short. 
He stopped partly because Gordon made a kicking mo¬ 
tion back at him, with his right foot. 

“ I hear them, too,” said Ned to himself. 

“Seen anything of him, Jim?” said a deep, gruff voice, 
not many feet away. 


226 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ Not a sign of him,” replied another. “ Have yon seen 
any blackf ellows ? ” 

“ Not a sign of one,” replied Jim. 

Just at that moment Ned heard a whirring sound in the 
air, and saw something flit above his head. 

“Hide, Jim! hide!” was shouted vigorously. “That 
boomerang did n’t miss me six inches! ” 

“Now’s our time, Ned!” whispered Gordon. “Creep 
for your life! The blacSfellows don’t yet know that 
we ’re here.” 

Ned followed him, with an idea that he had never until 
then known how close to the ground he could creep, and 
how fast he could go. 

“ I ’ve just got it to do,” he said to himself; but at that 
moment he was again warned by Gordon’s foot. He crept 
alongside of him. 

“ Be careful! ” whispered Gordon. 

“There they are,” whispered Ned. “Half a dozen of 
them. Can we get by ? ” 

“ Of course we can,” said Gordon. “ That is, we can lie 
still here till they all get past us.” 

Ned lay like a log and felt afraid to breathe, so very 
near to him and Gordon glided the dark shapes of the 
savages. There were eight of them, but one was only a 
boy, one limped badly, and one of them had his left shoulder 
tied up with leaves, as if it had been wounded. 

“Now,Ned, creep!” hissed Gordon. “We ’ll be beyond 
all danger in five minutes.” 


fHERE THEY ARE, WHISPERED NED 


aattMHHMMMCMH 











TOM GORDON’S TREASURE 


229 


Jim and his friend were dodging nervously from tree to 
tree, holding their rifles ready to shoot, and remarking to 
each other that it was of little use to scout after “ that fel¬ 
low with the nuggets,” until they had somehow provided 
against the blackfellows and their boomerangs. 

“We must go for the others,” they said. “We ’ll be safer 
when we ’re all together. We ’ll go and get them, and 
come back.” 

That was very much what some of the savages them¬ 
selves had thought. They were not quite so hungry, now, 
for they had had something to eat, and they had drunk 
freely of the water they had squeezed from the root- 
shoots of gum-trees. 

“ Hugh,” remarked Helen, as she stood among the white 
pillars, in the cave, “ is n’t it hard to wait, and not to know 
what’s coming! ” 

“ Unbearable ! ” said he. “ And how thick the smoke is!” 

“It is pouring in faster and faster!” exclaimed Lady 
Parry. “We cannot endure this much longer.” 

“ The whole mountain must be on fire! ” said Sir Freder¬ 
ick. “ It can’t have reached—” 

A great volume of hot smoke rushed in, and he sprang 
to his feet. 


20 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE FATE OF THE LAND PIRATES 

OM has been gone nearly two hours,” the 
baronet exclaimed. “He ought to be 
back, unless he and Ned are in trouble. 
Maude, we cannot stay here. Be 
brave, now, my dear. You and Helen 
must each take one of Tom’s extra re¬ 
volvers. Come, Hugh. We may have to fight our way.” 

“ I’m ready, Father,” said Hugh. 

Thicker grew the smoke as they hurriedly made their 
way to the burrow. 

“Yip! Yip!” was the sound they heard in advance of 
them when they entered the narrow passage. 

“I ’d forgotten the dogs,” exclaimed Sir Frederick. 
“ They can help in a fight, but they may make it more diffi¬ 
cult for us to conceal ourselves.” 

“ They would be valuable help in a tussle,” said Hugh, 
as he scrambled along to the door. 

Hardly had he opened it before Yip squeezed past him, 
followed by the hounds, and Hugh sprang out after them. 

230 










THE FATE OF THE LAND PIRATES 


231 


“ There they go ! ” he said. “ They did fit wait a second. 
What are they after ? ” 

11 1 can’t guess,” said his father, as he stood up and then 
stooped again to help out Lady Parry. “ The dogs have 
gone, my dear. I am almost glad of it.” 

“ Oh, I am so glad to get a breath of fresh air! ”• she said. 

“ Helen, how very pale you are! ” 

“ I was all but stifled, Aunt Maude,” said Helen. “ I 
shall soon feel better. Hark, Uncle Fred! What ’s 
that ¥ ” 

Sir Frederick replied: u I. believe we got out only just 
in time. Now we shall see what will be the effect. 
There were six kegs of blasting-powder and two kegs of 
dynamite! ” 

All around them was the circle of thick bushes before 
the front door of the cave. Over their heads arose the 
giant height of the great tree. Along the slope above 
them, as they looked, the fire was sweeping fast before the 
north wind, so that the smoke of it did not reach them. 
All the air was suddenly filled with a dull and thunderous 
roar, while a puff of dense, white vapor burst out of the 
hole between the roots, from which they had but just 
emerged. 

“ What a crash that was! ” remarked Sir Frederick. 

“ Aunt Maude, look ! ” screamed Helen. “ The rocks up 
yonder are springing into the air! ” 

“ Only a few feet or so, some of them,” said the baronet. 
“ I wonder what damage the explosion will do.” 


232 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ That fellow went high enough,” said Hugh, pointing to 
a fragment which came rolling down the slope. “ Look, 
Mother, look! ” 

Lady Parry had uttered one scream, and she was now 
crouching, white and silent, with her hands at her ears, as 
if she feared to hear another explosion. 

“ That ’s all there is of it, dear,” said Sir Frederick; 
“but I ’ll shut the door tightly. Phew ! what a smell of 
gunpowder! ” 

It was brought out of the hole by a strong draft, but 
it ceased as soon as the bark was fitted in. 

“Now’s our best time, father,” said Hugh. “We can 
get out into the woods.” 

“ That’s so,” said the baronet. “ Nobody will be think¬ 
ing of us.” 

Lady Parry clung to her husband’s arm, but Helen 
seemed disposed to hold the very large revolver she was 
armed with, all ready to point at something. She and 
Hugh led the advance, and he too went forward with a 
ready-to-shoot vigilance that did him credit. They all 
halted, a minute or so later, in the first clump of bushes 
that would conceal them from their enemies. Owing to 
the smoke and foliage it was useless to look back. 

“I would like to know,” said Sir Frederick, “just how 
much of that hill has been blown up.” 

“ Yip ! Yip ! Yip ! ” came from the woods. There was 
Yip, and there were the hounds, and close behind them 
were Ned and the cave-man, who looked wilder than ever. 


THE BLACK.FELLOWS ARE AFTER THEM. SAID GORDON. 








THE FATE OF THE LAND PIRATES 


235 


“ Here you are, and I am thankful,” he exclaimed. “We 
thought you were out, when the dogs came. This way! 
Quick as you can! ” 

“We got out just in time,” said the baronet. “What a 
blast it was ! ” 

“ There’s no time to spare,” said Gordon. “ They ’re all 
around us. Hear that! ” 

It was nothing but a series of cries in several directions, 
as if separated men were trying to find one another, and 
get together. It was repeated again and again, as the 
Parry family hurried forward. 

“ Why, here are all the horses! ” said Sir Frederick, in 
surprise — “ and all saddled, too ! ” 

“Now, mount! ” said the cave-man; “ hold on a moment! 
Hear that! ” 

It was a loud “ Coo-ee-e! ” followed by the crack of a 
rifle. Then there was another cry, and another, as if the 
robbers were calling to one another anxiously in the smoky 
gloom. Then there was more firing. 

“ They got separated, somehow, and the blacks are after 
them,” remarked the cave-man. “ Listen ! That ’s the last 
of them. We must hurry, now, but we ’re really almost 
safe. Mount! ” 

Lady Parry and Helen were helped upon their horses. 
Sir Frederick and Tom Gordon and the boys sprang to 
their saddles. 

u Steady! ” said Gordon, “ and keep well together. 
There! ” 


236 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“What is it?” asked the baronet. 

“That was the last,” said Gordon. “I counted the 
whoops wrong. The villains won’t ever coo-ee-e any 
more! ” 

“How do yon know?” asked Lady Parry, excitedly. 

“ Ka-kak-kia said so,” he replied. “ I know his voice. 
It was the triumphant death-shout of the blackfellows. 
Come! ” 


CHAPTER XX 


CONCLUSION 


T was yet an hour or more before sunset, 
when the four men who were in charge 
of Sir Frederick Parry’s camp were once 
more standing in a group together upon 
the bank of the river. They were eag¬ 
erly discussing what seemed to them even a 
greater puzzle than had been the three dingoes on the log. 

“ Brand,” said Marsh, “ this river’s giving out.” 

“ It’s gone down more than a foot in less than no time,” 
replied Brand. 

“ It’s going down and down, boys,” said Bob McCracken. 
u Don’t I wish Sir Frederick was here! If the river runs 
dry, we ’ll have to go home to save the horses.” 

Something or other, to all appearance, had indeed cut off 
the customary supply of water from that swift mountain- 
stream, and it was shrinking to almost nothing in its rocky 
bed. Nothing could be done, so they stood and watched 
the subsiding water. A loud, cheery shout suddenly rang 
out in the camp behind them, and they turned instantly. 

237 




238 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Hurrah!” shouted Bob. “It’s Sir Frederick and all 
of them! ” 

The others tried to shout, but they were too much sur¬ 
prised even to cheer, and they sprang forward to meet the 
returning party. 

There were endless questions and answers, and at the end 
of it all there was a confused idea among the men that the 
Parry family had gone a little too far into the woods, and 
had been hiding to keep out of the way of dangerous black- 
fellows. No mention was made of the cave-man, and he 
had not arrived with the rest. 

Bob McCracken set himself to cooking all the supper the 
camp could provide, with Yip and the hounds dancing 
around everywhere as if they were glad to get back. 

Sir Frederick went to the wagon, and, while the men 
were too busy to notice him, he carried a large portmanteau 
into his tent. Then he went back and brought a smaller 
portmanteau, and he and Lady Parry, and Hugh and Helen 
and Ned, remained in that tent until supper-time. It looked 
somewhat as if they might be holding a family council. 

They did not have time for a very long conference before 
the voice of Bob McCracken respectfully informed them 
that supper was ready. 

“ Yes, sir,” he added, as the baronet came out of the tent, 
“ and that river, sir, is running again as full as ever, sir. 
All the water it ever had, and a little more.” 

There was much discussion about the peculiar con¬ 
duct of the stream, and Bob was probably right when he 


CONCLUSION 


239 


suggested: “Yes, sir; I reckon somethin’was choking it for 
a spell, sir, and then let go.” 

u Oh, Helen! ” exclaimed Lady Parry, “ it is so good to 
get back to camp and to a tent, and to feel safe.” 

“I wish we were all the way home, at ‘the Grampians,”’ 
said Helen, “with Uncle Tom, too!” 

“Hush, dear! ” exclaimed her aunt. “We must n’t speak 
of him yet. We shall not stay at ‘the Grampians’ after 
we get there. We shall set out at once for England.” 

“Maude,” said Sir Frederick, “Ned thinks we should 
speak of Tom, now, freely, and not let his arrival be too 
great a surprise to the men. Let them expect him. I am 
going to follow his idea.” 

“ So will I,” she replied. “It is as sensible as it can be. It 
will keep them from asking too many questions afterward.” 

“Ned is a shrewd boy,” said the baronet. 

So it was that even before supper was over, one of the 
men was saying emphatically: 

“ It’s the first we’ve heard about Mr. Thomas Gordon. 
Sir Frederick knew what he came into the woods for all 
the while. There was a kind of puzzle about it till this 
minute. That’s why nothing bothered him. He’s to wait 
for Mr. Thomas Gordon till some time to-morrow.” 

Ned and Hugh were questioned a little after supper, but 
the men never dreamed of questioning the baronet, and 
Hugh said that his uncle had been mining, and was now 
coming back to “the Grampians.” This statement satis¬ 
fied the men. 


240 


THE WHITE CAVE 


There was a careful watch kept in camp that night, the 
greater part of it being done by Yip, for that good dog’s 
mind was disturbed about something. Once he made a rush 
and was absent for some time in the bush, but he came back 
with a wagging tail and a satisfied expression of counte¬ 
nance. Perhaps the next best watch was kept by Ned and 
Hugh, a little before dawn. Marsh was on sentry duty, and 
he was sound asleep, confiding in Yip, when Ned and Hugh 
slipped quietly out of camp. Ned carried a traveling-bag, 
and Hugh had a small portmanteau. 

They were gone for only about half an hour, and they 
came back empty-handed. 

“No, Hugh,” said Ned, as they got to the camp, “it’s all 
right. That ’s where he told us to leave them, between the 
two grass-trees.” 

“I hope nothing has happened to him,” said Hugh. 
“ He’s a daring fellow and ready to run any risk.” 

“Boys,” asked the baronet, “did you see him? Was he 
there ? ” 

“He was n’t there, Father,” replied Hugh, “but we left 
the things.” 

“Well,” said their father, “we ’ll have an early break¬ 
fast, and then we ’ll go and see. I’d like to know just what 
that blast did for the cave and the mountain.” 

Before breakfast was ready, Lady Parry and Helen 
came out of their tents. They seemed to be in a state 
of expectation. 

“ Come, Ned and Hugh! ” said Sir Frederick, as he 
finished his coffee. “ Are the horses ready ? Bob, we may 


CONCLUSION 


241 


be gone only a short time, or we may be out till noon. 
Keep a sharp lookout. Don’t be uneasy, but on no account 
must any of you leave the camp.” 

It was plain that Sir Frederick was making an effort to 
appear cool and unconcerned, whatever the reason might 
be. He recovered a great deal of his composure the 
moment he and the boys were in the saddle. 

u Tom Gordon runs a great risk,” he muttered, as they 
rode out into the forest. 

“I hope not, Sir Frederick,” remarked Ned Wentworth. 
“ He’s very savage-looking, you know.” 

“ That ’s the strong point,” said the baronet. Suddenly 
he cried out: “ Tom Gordon ! Is it possible ? ” 

There, between the grass-trees, on the ground, lay the 
luggage Ned and Hugh had carried out. Beside it lay a 
lot of little leather bags. In front of them stood a tall 
man, and near by were tethered several horses. 

The man was dressed from head to foot in clothing 
as stylish and as costly as Sir Frederick Parry could 
provide. 

“Well, Sir Frederick,” he replied laughingly, “what do 
you think ? Do they fit ? ” 

“ They fit perfectly,” replied the baronet. 

“ I am a little awkward yet,” said Tom,- “ the stockings 
and the boots are especially strange. I ’ll get used to them, 
but they ’ll hurt my feet for a few days. Must n’t try to 
walk much.” 

“ But that head of hair! The sooner I play barber the 
better. I’ve brought a pair of scissors—” 


21 


242 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“ Do your best/’ said Tom. “ My neck may depend upon 
having my hair properly cut.” 

Sir Frederick dismounted, and the tangled hair fell to 
the ground in masses. 

“ I will make it as close a crop as mine,” said the baronet. 
“ How shall I trim your beard ? ” 

“ Side whiskers, short mustaches, and a clean chin. 
Change my face all you can.” 

“What do you think of that, Ned?” exclaimed Sir 
Frederick, as the long shaggy red beard was shorn 
away. 

“ Think ? ” said Ned. “ Why, he would n’t know himself, 
and nobody will dream he is the same man. He’s not a 
bad-looking sort of fellow, now.” 

The barber processes went on to their completion, and 
then Mr. Thomas Gordon stood still to be looked at. 

“ It’s a success! ” exclaimed the baronet. 

“ Hugh,” said Ned, “ he is n’t the same man.” 

“ No, Ned, he is not! ” said Sir Frederick. “ But Tom, 
my boy, where did you get all those horses ? What have 
you been up to ? How about the blackfellows ? ” 

“Why, you know how it is with them,” replied Tom. 
“They never stay where they ’ve done such a piece of 
work as they did yesterday. They ’re far enough away 
—what’s left of them.” 

“Why, were any of them knocked over?” asked Sir 
Frederick. 

“ I can’t say,” said Tom. “ I did n’t try to find out how 


THERE STOOD A TALL MAN DRESSED FROM HEAD TO FOOT IN CLOTHING AS STYLISH AND COSTLY AS 

SIR FREDERICK PARRY COULD PROVIDE.” 
































CONCLUSION 


245 


many. I think they had a fight among themselves. What 
I wanted was to keep clear of them.” 

“ But these bags / 7 said the baronet. 

“ It 7 s all here/’ said Tom. “ You know I told you I had 
some bags sunk in the river. A pretty heavy horse-load of 
nuggets. I went and got them out. Then I found the 
horses of that gang picketed by their camp. That told me 
what had become of the owners. I just took them to the 
cave and loaded them up. The horse-blankets you and the 
boys gave me helped me make packs. Some pretty heavy 
loads—more 7 n they ought to carry far—•” 

“We can put some of it in the wagon / 7 said Sir Fred¬ 
erick. “ But how about the blast ? 77 

“You must go and look at that, after breakfast / 7 said 
Tom. “ It 7 s only five or six miles going straight. Now 
we ’ll load up and go in . 77 

“ It 7 s the best thing we can do / 7 said the baronet. 

Lady Parry and Helen were uneasy after the baronet 
and the boys had ridden away. They grew more and more 
uneasy and fidgety every minute, until at last Bob Mc¬ 
Cracken shouted: 

“ There they come! Mr. Thomas Gordon is with them ! 77 

“ There he is ! 77 exclaimed Helen. 

A very important cavalcade came plodding into camp. 
It was headed by Sir Frederick Parry, side by side with a 
stately, elegantly dressed gentleman — a man who seemed 
as large as the baronet. Behind them rode the boys, urg¬ 
ing along several heavily laden pack-horses. 


246 


THE WHITE CAVE 


“Helen,” exclaimed Lady Parry. “I never expected 
that, I ’m sure. It is really wonderful!” 

“ How changed he is! ” said Helen. 

In another minute the riders had dismounted, hut Lady 
Parry said: 

“ Tom, come into the tent! Come in, Fred and Helen! I 
can’t speak to him out here.” 

“ Boh,” said the haronet, before he disappeared j “ Mr. 
Thomas Gordon has not had his breakfast.” 

“All right, sir! Yes, sir,” said Bob, darting toward the 
coffee-pot and the frying-pan. “ Get me some more wood, 
boys.” 

A few minutes later he remarked to them: “ Bid ye ever 
see the like o’ the Gordons and Parrys ? They ’ll all dress up 
and shave clean, out in the bush, as if it was at 1 the Gram- 
pings.’ There’s Mr. Thomas Gordon, now, right from the 
mines, and he looks as if he’d stepped out of a band-box.” 

Within the tent there had been greetings 'and even tears, 
and at last Sir Frederick remarked to his wife: 

“My dear, Ned’s idea will work perfectly, if-we can go 
straight through to England.” 

“I am sure I do not wish to stop a needless hour any¬ 
where,” she said; “ not even at ‘ the Grampians.’ ” 

“I have no doubt,” said Tom Gordon, “that Ned’s whole 
plan is the safest for me.” 

“ His whole plan ? ” asked Helen. “ What is it, Uncle 
Tom 1 ” 

“Why, Helen,” he replied. “I wish to see England 
again, of course, but it will not do for me to stay there. 


CONCLUSION 


247 


Ned is going there with me, as soon as he can get the 
consent of his father and mother. We can see all we wish 
to see, and then we are off for the United States.” 

“Do yon see, Maude?” asked her husband. “Nothing 
could be better. As for America, not only will he be 
entirely safe there, but he can step into business at once 
with his really large capital. They have some of the 
largest and finest sheep-farms in the world, in their 
western States and Territories. Not equal to ours, of 
course5 not like ‘the Grampians/ but then you could 
make a farm to satisfy yourself very well, Tom.” 

“Ned says I could start a new city, or go to Congress,” 
said Tom, laughing. “I shall indeed have capital enough 
to start on. Something like half a million, counting it 
in dollars.” 

“ Count it in dollars, of course,” said Sir Frederick, smil¬ 
ing. “ You ’re going to America ! Come to breakfast, now, 
and then if you ’re sure the woods are clear, we ’ll go to 
see what your blasting-powder and dynamite did for that 
mountain.” 

“I think we are perfectly safe in going,” said Tom; 
“ and, while we are gone, the men can get things ready for 
a start. I can pilot you to ‘ the Grampians.’ ” 

The men were left in charge of the camp, with instruc¬ 
tions to take down the tents, pack the wagon, and make 
ready ior moving. 

“We can make quite a journey before dark,” said Sir 
Frederick, “ and we’ve been here long enough.” 

“ Indade we have, sir,” said Bob heartily. 


248 


THE WHITE CAVE 


The ladies had many questions to ask, as they rode 
along, and Tom told them his experiences. At last, after 
a long ride through the forest, they came out again on the 
river bank. 

“Why!” exclaimed Helen. “This is where Ned Went¬ 
worth found me, when I was lost. Yip found me here, too.” 

“ I wanted to look up-stream from this point,” said Tom. 
“Yes, there ’s a cleft in the hill. There always was a sort 
of deep gorge there, I think, where the stream came out 
from the chasm. Listen ! ” 

“It sounds like a waterfall,” said Sir Frederick. “Was 
there one there ? ” 

“No, there was not,” said Tom. “We must ride to the 
front door of my house. I want to see how it is.” 

They rode rapidly for so warm a morning, and it was 
still early when they came out near the great tree. 

“ Look ! ” exclaimed Tom. “ Can’t you understand, now, 
Sir Frederick ? ” 

“ The top of the hill is gone! ” said the baronet. 

“My house is gone,” exclaimed Gordon. “The whole 
cave has fallen in. When I was here, last night, I could 
only get in far enough to reach my gold.” 

“ The roof fell in ? ” asked Hugh. 

“Yes,” said Tom, “and filled the deep chasm. It made a 
great gorge—what the Yankees call a canon. Everything 
was ready to tumble, and the blast and the fire did the 
business! That stream won’t run underground any more 
—at least at this point.” 


CONCLUSION 


249 


u Aunt Maude !” shouted Helen. “ Look! Look under 
the tree—right at Uncle Toni’s front door!” 

“ I declare/’ exclaimed Tom. “ I knew the water inside 
must he setting hack and rising, hut I did n’t expect that. 
Splendid spring it makes, too.” 

“ Hurrah ! ” shouted Hugh. “ Ned, see it hurst out! ” 

There, indeed, bubbling and gushing, was a fine young 
rivulet, forced out at the burrow between the roots of the 
tree. It had easily pushed away the hark door, and now it 
poured forward, seeking a channel for its further passage. 

“It ’ll turn all this forest into a swamp for a while,” 
remarked Sir Frederick. 

“The chasm is gone,” replied Tom, “hut that spring 
won’t run a great while. Only till the river has plowed 
down its new channel among the rocks and rubbish.” 

Suddenly Tom Gordon cried : “ Follow me! Quick! 
There is danger ! ” 

They wheeled their horses, and followed him as he 
dashed away, hut he rode only a short distance before he 
pulled in and turned his head toward his former home. 

“We got away only just in time,” he said. “ See that! 
I could see that the roots had been loosened, but the water 
has been undermining them all night. The tree always 
leaned a little southerly. It’s coming, now! ” 

The party were silent, looking expectantly at the vast 
shape of the forest king. 

The great tree was swaying, tottering, and the air was 
full of a strange, groaning, tearing sound, that grew louder 


250 


THE WHITE CAVE 


until it burst into a report like that of a cannon. In an¬ 
other instant, there was an awful crash, and the very earth 
shook as the gigantic trunk came thundering down. The 
big trees of common kinds that it fell among splintered 
like dry reeds. Its out-reaching roots tore up the soil in 
all directions, and their rugged mass stood up over the 
deep cavity left behind them like the side of a small 
hill. 

“That is one of the grandest sights I ever saw/’ said 
Sir Frederick. “ I would not have missed it for any¬ 
thing. Tom, we brought you out of that cave only just 
in time.” 

“Somehow or other,” said Tom, “a great many things 
happen only just in time. I don’t quite understand, yet, 
why I came to be out here at all, or what brought you 
here. It ’s a puzzle.” 

“Is n’t it time we went to the camp?” asked Ned. 

“ I think so, Tom,” said the baronet. “ The sooner we 
are at 4 the Grampians,’ the better for all of us.” 

Several months later, the same party that had gathered 
in Sir Frederick Parry’s tent that morning in the Austra¬ 
lian bush, were gathered again in a breezy, open-windowed 
drawing-room of a stately country-seat. They were in the 
ancient English home of the Parry family. 

“Well, Ned,” said Lady Parry, “I am sorry you must go 
home, but I’m glad you and Tom have had time to see 
England.” 


CONCLUSION 


253 


“I’m so glad I have seen it,” said Ned. “It’s a great 
country, and I’m coming over again, some day.” 

There was some general conversation, and then Sir Fred¬ 
erick remarked: “Ned’s plan has worked perfectly, Tom. 
I don’t see why you need go to the States. Why can’t you 
stay here 1 ” 

Stay here ? ” said Tom Gordon. “ Why, you are going 
hack to Australia, just to see your sheep-farm again, and to 
he where there’s plenty of room. It ’s just so with me. 
I’ve got to live in a new country, to he comfortable. I’m 
going away out West, when I get to America—to some 
place where there are mountains, and forests, and mines. 
I want some Indians to take the place of the blackfellows. 
There will he wolves there, too, and deer, and buffaloes, in¬ 
stead of kangaroos.” 

“ You can open as large a sheep-farm as you wish,” said 
Sir Frederick. 

Hugh had been looking out of a window, across a closely 
cut lawn upon which deer were feeding. 

“Ned,” he remarked, “ it does seem so unnatural to have 
regular hot January weather right in the middle of July, 
with a warm breeze from the south, instead of from the 
north. I want to get back to Australia, where things come 
in their regular season. What are you going to do, first, 
after you get home ? ” 

“ Oh,” said Ned, “ father and mother are there, long be¬ 
fore this. I’ve got to go to college, but I’m going West, 

first thing, with Mr. Gordon, to see him settled.” 

22 


254 


THE WHITE GAVE 




“By the way, Maude,” said Tom. “I We attended to 
that 5 I have settled enough on Ned to set him up hand¬ 
somely for life. He is all the hoy I have, you know.” 

They all had known that Tom Gordon intended to make 
provision for Ned, and they all were delighted, excepting 
Ned himself. He was silent, until Helen Gordon said to 
him: “lam so glad of it, Ned ! But I am not going hack 
to Australia. 1 7 m not to go to college, exactly, hut 1 7 m to 
he put into a boarding-school for two or three years, and 
then I am going to live with my father in India.” 

“ Oh, Helen! ” said Ned. “ It seems as if that were fur¬ 
ther away than Australia, hut I know it is n’t. Wellj then, 
as soon as I get through college, I will come to India, un¬ 
less you are in Australia hy that time.” 

“ Will you, Ned ? ” said Helen. “ Do come! ” 

“ I will surely come ! ” said Ned. 








































































































































































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